


Scorched Earth

by Lyds and Ally (thunderandlightning)



Series: The Forty-Nine Trials of Lydia Martin [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, F/M, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-05-15 01:23:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 43,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19285228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderandlightning/pseuds/Lyds%20and%20Ally





	1. Miami to Miramar

Lydia wasn’t sure if she felt better or worse about her situation. Hours earlier, she had been the only survivor in a group of fifty, and she still clutched things she had taken from the last of them, to remind herself of the way they had saved her from certain death. At some point in history, an alien race had decided it was bored and wanted to save a planet. They chose Earth, given that there weren’t life forms elsewhere, and decided to live among humans in an effort to understand them. 

They sort of failed. But they meant well. 

Television shows had inspired them, so they started making plans. While some of them monitored the humans in their trials, the others were working quickly, preventing the use of automobiles and airplanes. Trains were still allowed, as long as they were electric, but the aliens were restricting the use of them to once per day. For the time being, at least. 

Lydia shivered. It was January first and at least sixty degrees outside in Miami, but being nude didn’t offer her much protection. The aliens who had transported her across the country had some really strange ideas, but they seemed friendly enough, given the circumstances. They wanted the remaining populace to travel to all of the forty-eight states, and visit each capitol building. The device in their hands would register their visits to each one. In a year, they were supposed to meet the rest of what remained of their country’s population in Seattle. Lydia figured she was probably still in shock, since she wasn’t screaming in terror at the fact that aliens had wiped out most of humanity. Instead, she walked across the warm asphalt, going into the Walmart to pick up things she was going to need. 

“Do we - do we still have to pay?” A dark-skinned girl was asking her companion in the front lobby of the Walmart, her arms wrapped tightly around her. “We don’t - how do we do that? We literally have nothing. Does it even matter if we do?”

“You see any cashiers around here?” Her friend nodded to Lydia as she walked in. “Hey.” 

Lydia tried for a polite smile, but walked past the duo and straight toward the clothing section, her grip tightening around her meager possessions. 

“So then… then, maybe we can get a suitcase?” The girl suggested. “And grab as much as we can and just go?”

“It’s too bulky.” Lydia called out, without thinking. She glanced up as she took a dress off of a hanger. “You’re better off with a backpack. That’s where I’m headed, next.” 

The girl looked thoughtful. “Backpack…” She murmured, and then looked at the boy. “We could each grab one, still. And way lighter than a suitcase, but still enough room for stuff we need.”

“Yeah, that’s a better plan. Might as well grab ourselves some bicycles, too. Travel faster that way.” The guy mused. “Hey, half-naked girl?” He called out to Lydia. “You feel like traveling with us?” 

Lydia hesitated, wide-eyed as she tried to gauge if these were the sort of people who would attack her in her sleep. “I think I’m better off on my own.” She said finally. “But thank you for the bicycle idea.” 

The guy stared at her, then laughed. “Oh, you think we’re gonna rob you, right? ‘Cause I look so good in a skirt. And both of us on bikes, somehow, are gonna take yours with us when we leave your ass.” 

“Shut up.” The girl said, scowling and shoving at him. “If she doesn’t want to come, then whatever, let her go off on her own.”

Lydia walked away, finding a package of underwear in her size. She tore it open and pulled a pair on, then eyed the hat she had taken before she put that on her head. The rest of the underwear, the shoelace and the preteen girl’s glasses went into the first backpack she could find, and she fastened the cross necklace that she had taken from Bridget around her neck. She went back to the clothing department, grabbing things as she walked: three sports bras, a pair of jeans, a pair of leggings that she immediately put on, as well as socks and shoes. She went back to get an umbrella and a regular bra, then a jacket that would protect her from rain. She wanted warmer clothes, but she was as far south as she could probably get, so that sort of thing would have to wait until she was somewhere colder. She didn’t want to carry more than she absolutely had to. She found a bicycle with a basket, checking to make sure the bag would stay put in it while she rode it through the store, on her way to the grocery department. After some consideration, she pulled the backpack straps over her shoulders, loaded water into the basket on the bike, and rode back to the accessories department to get a second backpack for her food. 

There was a young blonde man already puttering through the shelves, muttering and worrying as he loaded as much as he could into a wheeled cooler. He was dressed haphazardly, a duffle bag slung across his back, and he narrowed his eyes at Lydia when he spotted her, before resuming his task.

“Unless you’re planning on taking every box of granola bars this store has to offer, you don’t have to worry about me.” Lydia remarked. She got off of her bicycle and put the kickstand down, eyeing the shelf in front of her. 

“I might.” The guy muttered. “I’ll need the energy.” He eyed her bike, and then snorted. “Probably more than you will.”

“What, you don’t know how to ride a bike?” Lydia scoffed. She dropped two boxes of granola bars into her second backpack and glanced toward the meat department, wondering if it was worth the risk to grab anything that required refrigeration. Suddenly, the guy’s cooler made sense. 

“Nope. Never cared to learn.” He muttered. “It’s biting me in the ass now, but whatever.”

“You have a completely empty parking lot and nothing better to do.” Lydia pointed out. “I can watch your stuff if you want to go look at the bicycles. I know you don’t have any reason to trust me.” She hesitated, then took the baseball cap off of her head and held it out. “I’m not interested in losing this. It belonged to... someone.” She said quietly. “Take it with you and bring it back. I’ll be here.” 

The guy stared at her warily, frowning deeply before he hesitantly took the cap from her. “If you aren’t still here with my stuff when I get back, I will find you.” He told her, his voice hard. “This, with the hat? Could still be a ploy. You might be a really great actress for all I know.”

“He died.” Lydia blurted. She lifted the cross. “This one belonged to a girl who begged for four turns of nobody killing her to save themselves.” She held up her index finger, rummaging through her clothing bag for the shoelace and glasses. “These were from children who we all wanted to make it to the end, but there were five of us left and the other four each voted to remove one another, and they left me.” She shook her head, putting her mementos away again. “I promised one man that I would find his daughters and tell them of how he sacrificed himself to save those kids. And an old woman named Evelyn, who did the same thing. I'm not interested in stealing from you. Please, please just bring that hat back to me.” 

The guy pursed his lips together tightly, but eventually nodded. “Fine.” He murmured. “I’ll bring it back to you.” He stuffed the hat into his back pocket, tipped an imaginary hat to her, then started toward the sporting goods department to grab a bike.

Lydia breathed in and out slowly, then crossed her fingers that he hadn’t lied to her. She stayed close to the cooler, but filled her second backpack with other dry goods. 

By the time the man came back with a large bike at his side, a good twenty minutes had passed, and he looked quite a bit roughed up from his time on the bike. He looked visibly relieved when he spotted Lydia, and promptly held the hat out to her once he was close. “As promised.”

“Thank you.” Lydia put the hat back on. “What’s your name?” 

“Jake.” The man replied, stuffing a hand in his pocket as her eyed her. “Yours?”

“Lydia.” Lydia replied. “I hope you make it to Seattle.” 

“Likewise.” Jake replied, giving her a small salute. “Better get started.”

Lydia nodded and started to wheel her bike away, but stopped. “Are you traveling by yourself?” She felt guilty for asking, after rejecting the couple of surviving people at the front of the store. 

Jake paused, looking back at her. “Yeah.” He admitted. “Seemed safer that way.”

“Yeah, I feel the same way.” Lydia agreed. “But I don’t think I like the idea of being on my own for an entire year. We could at least get to Tallahassee together and then split up, if that’s something either of us wants to do.” 

Jake licked his lips, thinking, before he cleared his throat. “Alright.” He said slowly. “I’m not gonna lie, I’m not very keen on the idea of trying to travel for a year on my own, either. There’s only so far I could get.” He cleared his throat. “So yeah. Let’s… do that.”

Lydia looked relieved. “I’m going to get a map and some medical supplies. I don’t think we need to travel too far tonight, especially after the day we’ve had. Is twenty miles all right with you?” 

Jake nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. Twenty miles will do.” He straightened up and finished packing the rest of his cooler. Then he stared between the cooler, and the bike he’d grabbed and frowned deeply. “I need a chain.”

“There are a couple of toddler carts that attach to bicycles.” Lydia gestured toward the sporting goods section. “I thought about getting one, but the basket seems good enough.” 

“Yeah…” Jake murmured, furrowing his brows. “Actually, yeah, I might grab one of those.” He glanced at Lydia and nodded appreciatively. “Thanks for the idea. I know it’s bulky, but… I don’t want to have to stop too many times if I don’t need to, not for non-perishables.”

“I’ll meet you out front.” Lydia added a tool box to the list of things she needed to pick up, since it seemed like she was going to end up taking charge of things for herself and Jake. She got back on her bicycle and rode through the aisles, picking up things she knew she and Jake would be better off having instead of going without, then went out through a set of automatic doors like she had told him she would. Judging by the sun’s position in the sky, it was already four o’clock in the afternoon. She moved some plants from an outdoor sales table and spread the map out. The duo from earlier was already gone, and she was grateful for that, too. 

Jake rode out slowly several minutes later, his cooler secured inside of a toddler cart that was attached to the back of the bike. He slowed to a stop near Lydia, giving the redhead a brief smile. “I think I’ve gotten just about everything I can get. Bonus, if you want any baked beans, I’ve got some for days.” He snorted.

Lydia laughed. “I’ll let you know.” She glanced at the toddler cart and felt relieved that she wasn’t going to have to do everything herself. “We’re stopping in Miramar.” She pointed to the map. “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble in finding an abandoned home that we can stay in for the night.” 

“So many of them have been abandoned since this horseshit started, yeah, it should be pretty easy.” Jake agreed, nodding. “Alright. Miramar for the night, and… provided we agree to keep traveling with each other, where would you want to stop after?”

Lydia already had a plan in mind, but she wasn’t ready to share that yet. “We’ll talk about that in the morning.” She said carefully. “I’m planning to leave as soon as I’m awake enough. Sunrise, at the absolute latest.” 

Jake let out a small noise, nodding. “Okay. Early start. Sounds fair.” He exhaled. “We need to get moving, though. Daylight and all.”

“Right.” Lydia nodded. She folded her map and put it back into the clothing backpack. She had both backpacks protected by a trash bag, in case it rained. She got back onto her bicycle, glancing over her shoulder at Jake in an effort to make sure he wasn’t going to club her. It was a thought that had been on her mind since she saw the two people in the front of the store. The world was somehow more dangerous now, not less. She started pedaling, the route to Miramar clear in her mind. A lot of questions were starting to nag at her, but she didn’t want to really worry about any of them until she stopped for the night. “Where were you, before?” She called over her shoulder. 

Jake followed her, then pulled up beside her after several moments, his lips pulled down into a frown as he thought. “The PCH, on my way south. I was in my car. Next thing I knew, I was in… that thing.” He looked at Lydia briefly, then returned his gaze ahead of them. “You?”

“I was going to the mall, to buy a new suitcase.” Lydia looked rueful. “I was visiting my mother and planning to go back to MIT for college, when the new semester started. I guess this at least means that all of my loan debt is going to be overlooked.” 

Jake snorted. “Well, it’s not as though there’s anyone that’s going to be keeping track of it anymore. The entire credit system has likely crashed. Which is great, because I maxed out my last credit card just before the… incident.”

“So, this morning? Or yesterday?” Lydia smiled. It felt strange, and she cleared her throat. “If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m determined to get to all forty-eight state capitols and then to Seattle as quickly as possible, I’d treat myself to a closet full of clothes and shoes.” 

“If the aliens hadn’t broken all the damn vehicles, I’d have said go for it. Hell, I probably would’ve been right there with you.” Jake snorted. “I want to get it done, too. I want to get through the states as quickly as possible and get to the end of this. I just… don’t know what’s going to happen after this.”

“I don’t think any of us do.” Lydia shrugged. She glanced up at the sunset. “I didn’t think I’d get to see another of these.” She nodded toward the sky. “I sort of resigned myself to being dead, before it was all over.” 

“Yeah.” Jake said quietly, following her gaze. “I think a lot of people did. I was definitely one of them.” He frowned deeply, his brows drawing together. “I don’t know why I survived. Just dumb luck, I guess. I don’t think I did anything special that made anyone want to make sure I survived.”

“There were three adults, and the two kids.” Lydia murmured, glancing over at Jake. “The other woman said that there were aliens and she wanted to, well, mercy kill the kids. They didn’t like it, but I guess they grew up in a matter of minutes. So they agreed. And since the woman and the guy with us didn’t want to go on, they left me being the only survivor. I’m probably going to have a nightmare tonight. If I can sleep. But I should sleep. I’m really exhausted.” 

“You won’t be alone in that.” Jake assured her, glowering ahead of them. He looked exhausted and more than a little miserable. “I’ll kick you awake if you scream, if you do the same for me.”

“I will.” Lydia nodded. She started riding her bike again, eager to get to Miramar. She wasn’t sure what she would find there. For all she knew, it wasn’t anything more than a name on a map. But it would get her closer to Tallahassee, and that was all that mattered to her in the moment. She wished for her cell phone, but she had no idea where it was, or if cell phones even worked. The fact that electricity was still in use meant that the aliens hadn’t completely done away with everything. If she was some sort of heroine from a movie, she would have been focusing on how to destroy them. But they really did seem relatively normal, albeit green-skinned, and this was real life. If she had been alone, she would have probably talked to herself or started singing, just to fill the silence. But Jake’s presence made her nervous, even while it was a comfort to have someone else with her. Eventually, they reached Miramar, and Lydia watched a house for signs of life before she got off of her bicycle and walked up the porch steps with her tool kit. Picking the lock looked a little more complicated than she expected, but the hammer was useful enough to smash through a window and reach inside to unlock the door. 

Jake followed after her silently, waiting until the door was open before he wheeled his bike up to the front stoop. He picked up the cooler and carried it inside, peering around warily before he looked at Lydia. “Good thinking with the hammer.” He mentioned to her. “The only plan I had for getting in was balling my hand up in my shirt and punching it in.”

Lydia laughed. She grabbed her bike and pulled it up the steps and into the house, then eyed Jake’s bike and trailer warily. “I’ll just go open the garage door.” She murmured. She wandered through the house, opening doors until she found the one that led into the garage, then pressed the button to raise the large door. The house was beautiful, and if she had nowhere else she wanted to be for a year, she could see herself living there. But there had been an implied threat of danger for anyone who wasn’t in Seattle in a year, and she hadn’t come this far to die, just for a pretty house. 

Jake set the cooler on the porch steps, then wheeled the bike and trailer toward the garage, frowning deeply. He still didn’t quite understand why, exactly, the cars had to be taken, but he supposed that having them around would have made things much easier for the survivors. He rolled his eyes. Obviously, the aliens couldn’t have that. He came out of the garage and jogged his way up the front steps and into the house, stopping only to hoist the cooler into his arms once more.

Lydia found the television remote on the coffee table, in the living room. She turned the tv on, sighing in relief and closing her eyes when the channels were running like normal. She sat down on the couch, surprising herself when she burst into tears. 

Jake bolted into the room, looking alarmed. “What? What happened? Why are you crying? Jesus, are you alright?”

“It’s stupid.” Lydia slouched and wiped her eyes with the hem of her shirt dress. “I just watched so many people die in front of me, aliens are taking control of our planet, and on tv? Nothing has changed. It’s such a normal thing.” 

Jake frowned a little. “Kind of surprising, honestly. You’d think there’d be fewer people to man the television stations.” He paused, then shook his head. “I mean… not stupid. It’s not. And… maybe we could use a little normal. It’s not like we can ever get back to our version of it, we’re screwed. Our normal is completely skewed.”

“I’m pretty sure that no humans are controlling what’s on tv.” Lydia mused. “It’s probably all run by aliens, now.” She looked up at him. “The ones who brought me to that store told me that there are about three million of them. There are only about two million of us left. In this country, at least. They think they’ve done us a favor.” 

“They did us a favor. Sure.” Jake snorted and sat down, his hands clutched between his legs. “They tell you how long they’ve been here?” He asked. “How long they’ve been blending in with us?”

“No, but I’m assuming it was a long time.” Lydia said quietly. “I don’t think we have a chance in hell of fighting back. I think we have to just let them do whatever they’re going to do. Someone posited that we would just keep going from room to room, wiping ourselves out until only one of us was left, for their amusement. I’m glad that turned out to be wrong.” 

“Could’ve been way worse.” Jake agreed softly. He was silent for several minutes, his eyes on the tv screen. “Think anyone you know survived?” He asked. 

“I don’t know. I’d like to think so.” Lydia admitted. “Where I’m from, there were about thirteen thousand people. Assuming that one in fifty survived, that’s only about two hundred and sixty left. Odds aren’t great that I’ll ever see anyone from my town again.” 

“Well… maybe we can swing through on our way to Seattle.” Jake suggested. “Knowing would be better than not knowing, I think. Even if knowing means that it’s bad news.”

Lydia turned her head to look up at Jake, blinking a couple of times before she leaned toward him and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.” The fact that he had already decided to stay with her for the duration of their travels made her feel a little more relaxed. “I’m going to check the kitchen for food. We might find something even better than what we’ve been hauling around for the last couple of hours.” She got up and left the room, going into the kitchen and opening cabinets to see what had been left behind. 

Jake sat frozen, watching her go, then shook his head as he was spurred into motion. He stood up to follow her. “My name’s not really Jake.” He told her softly. “I just… told you that because I didn’t think it was a good idea to give you my real name. I don’t know who the hell I thought I was keeping it a secret for. Everyone I cared about is probably gone, too.” He swallowed. “Anyway. Uh. My name - my real name - is Jackson.”

“Jackson.” Lydia repeated. “Okay.” She was quiet as she processed the fact that he had lied to her, then shrugged. “It’s a good tactic.” She said carefully. “If we run into people who seem dangerous, lying could save us. But I’ve been thinking about the fact that all of us are supposed to hit these forty-eight checkpoints and that means that any survivors are going to see the capitol buildings. Leaving messages to tell people that we’re okay could help us. It would give them hope.” 

“That’s… actually, that’s a really good plan.” Jackson said quietly. “If anyone we care about is still out there… they’ll find us, eventually.” He exhaled softly. “However long it takes.”

Lydia nodded, smiling. “Moore Haven is ninety-eight miles from here. I think we can get there in a day. If we go fast enough, we might even make it past that point. But it’s at least a good enough goal, for tomorrow.” 

“For tomorrow.” Jackson agreed, nodding. “For now… I think our best bet is to just get something in our systems, and then crash, so we can get an early start.”


	2. Miramar to Moore Haven

Lydia got dressed and pulled her hair up into a ponytail, securing it through the gap between the baseball cap and the adjustable band. She covered her arms and face with sunblock, ignoring the dark circles under her eyes as she brushed her teeth in the bathroom. Just one day earlier, she would have covered herself in concealer and taken pride in applying makeup to her eyes, cheeks and lips. In her determination to only get essential items, she hadn’t even thought about makeup. She thought she looked like a raccoon, thanks to all of the times she had woken up in the night and had trouble getting back to sleep. But she was alive. 

Jackson lightly knocked on the door. “Hey. Do you feel like sitting down and eating before we go, or should we just make something to go?” He called in to her. He’d slept fitfully, nightmares keeping him up, just like he’d told Lydia. Eventually, he’d managed to get some rest, even if it hadn’t mattered and he’d woken up ridiculously early anyway.

“Breakfast now, and then we’ll get going.” Lydia answered, opening the door. “We might want to raid this place, too. Things we might need, if there’s a serious emergency. Road flares, blankets, a tent? We don’t know what we’re going to run into, and we have to go through a wildlife preserve. We’re in the Everglades. There’s bound to be an alligator or twenty.” 

“Shotguns.” Jackson said decisively. “I know how to shoot.” He faltered a little. “Theoretically. I’ve never had to before. Whatever.” He studied her for a moment, and then gave her a small smile. “Come on. I think some of the canned crap I grabbed yesterday might have been corned beef hash. Or, if that might make you sick, I think there are potatoes in there, too. We can throw together some hash browns, or home fries or something, maybe some eggs, if they’re still okay to eat.”

“It’s been a day.” Lydia smiled. “I think the eggs are okay.” She followed him into the kitchen. “I want you to teach me how to use a gun. I’m not fond of them, but it might not hurt us to have one. We should definitely get some sort of weapons before we get to Tallahassee. I don’t want to run into a bad situation and not be prepared for it.” 

“For all we know, the survivors could’ve turned stupid and started killing.” Jackson agreed, looking unhappy about it. He nodded at her, though. “Maybe we’ll even swing by a range. We’ll grab shotguns, and maybe some handguns.” He pursed his lips tightly. “Knives, too. I’ll teach you, but I’m teaching you everything. I’m not taking any chances.”

Lydia’s smiled turned grim. She tilted her head as she looked at him. “Do you know how to make a molotov cocktail?” The thought of it had her searching the cabinet under the sink for the right chemicals. 

Jackson shook his head. “Can’t say I do.” He murmured, watching her. “Never been much of a chemistry guy.”

“I think the two of us are going to get through this without a whole lot of trouble.” Lydia grabbed a container of kerosene and set it on the counter, then picked up the dish soap from the other side of the sink. “I can’t say the same for other people, though.” 

Jackson’s eyebrows were raised. “You’re a little bit terrifying, aren’t you?” He commented, even as a small smile tugged at his lips.

Lydia pressed her lips together to hide her own smile and nodded back at him. She eyed the faint sunlight coming through the window, then started getting out things to make breakfast. “I was the Valedictorian of my class. I went to MIT and started as a junior. I was planning to get a doctorate in applied mathematics. I guess none of that matters now, but it’s a little difficult to accept this new world order.” 

“For what it’s worth, I’m damn glad that if I have to be traveling with anyone, it’s someone like you.” Jackson told her, shaking his head. “MIT, valedictorian, can make molotov cocktails off the top of her head… christ. You must be a certified genius.”

“They don’t certify that sort of thing.” Lydia laughed. “The closest you would get is a Mensa membership, and those are worthless. Even more so, now.” She mused, then cracked a few eggs into a bowl and started beating them. 

Jackson hummed thoughtfully, glancing back at her as he started to dig through his cooler. Finding his prize, he thumped two cans of potatoes on the counter, and then went looking for a can opener. Once he’d opened the cans and drained the water, he started dicing the potatoes, then set them to the side and searched for a frying pan to use. “Well, even if those are worthless now, you’re still pretty much a genius, right? Got your IQ measured and everything?”

“One-seventy.” Lydia admitted. “Most of my skills are useless. I can’t see us needing to know archaic Latin or the scientific names of animals.” 

“Maybe they could come in handy.” Jackson pointed out. “You don’t know. Maybe whatever the fuck these aliens are trying to get us to do involves some sort of… I don’t know. Riddle? Quiz? Hell, I don’t know. For all we know, they’re sitting in their fucking ships, monitoring us right now and laughing their asses off at the stupid humans trying to survive.”

“We’re their new entertainment.” Lydia nodded. “I’m just not sure if there’s anything we can do about it.” She glanced down at her hand, then looked up at the knife block on the counter. After a few more seconds of contemplation, she shook her head at herself. “I’m sorry if this disturbs you.” She said carefully. “But I think we need to find a corpse.” 

Jackson choked. “What?” He blurted, whipping his head around to stare at her. “I’m sorry, I think I misheard you. We need to what now?”

“Find a corpse.” Lydia repeated. She held her hand up. “I want to know that these devices can be removed without killing us. Obviously, someone already dead would be a poor example, but I could at least see how deeply embedded everything is.” 

Jackson’s eyes moved toward her hand, and then down to his own. He grimaced, his hand flexing a little. “Fuck. You’re right. I completely forgot about it, I was just so glad to still be breathing and away from that fucking death circle.”

“If I can remove devices from everyone, I will.” Lydia nodded. “But if we do this, we’ll have to go into hiding.” She looked around. “We could find a house like this and stay there.” She held the bowl of raw egg mixture out to Jackson. “I’ll go look for camping supplies while you cook. I just don’t want to waste a single second. Not ever again.” 

Jackson took the bowl from her and nodded. “I don’t think I’d mind that. Finding a house and settling in, I mean.” He said quietly. “Be back soon. This won’t take long,” he added, nodding at the eggs and the frying pan. 

“Yeah, I don’t think I will, either.” Lydia left the kitchen and went into the garage. There was no car there, and she hadn’t expected to see one, anyway. The aliens had been pretty thorough. But an unopened package on a shelf held a few road flares. She carried the bag back up the steps and into the house, continuing up to the second story to look for thin blankets, since they would be easier to travel with. She found two in a closet and added them to her bundle of stolen goods in her arms. Looking for a tent turned out to be a fruitless search, but she knew there would be stores on the way to Moore Haven. It would delay them slightly, but Lydia didn’t care too much about that. She resolved to also look for a trailer like the one Jackson was using, for her own bike. 

“Lydia!” Jackson called. “Food’s ready!” He furrowed his brow as his set the pan on the small table, and was rewarded for poking through the cupboards with two plates to eat off of. He settled down in one chair, staring at the plate with a small frown before he scooped up the fried potatoes and placed them on Lydia’s plate, and then his own. His mind raced, and he tried to think of things they would need as they traveled - part of him wondered if it wouldn’t be better if they took the frying pan with them in order to have something to cook in outdoors, when they couldn’t stay in a house for some reason. At some point, they would reach the Midwest, and the houses would have much more space between them. He rubbed his chin with one hand. They’d have to make another stop at another Walmart or some camping store and try to find some things that would let staying outdoors be a bit more comfortable for them. 

Lydia sat down across from Jackson and picked up her fork. “There aren’t any tents in here.” She looked up at him. “We’ll have to stop off and pick something up. Another bike trailer, too. Just because we never know what sort of things we’re going to end up needing. Warmer coats and blankets wouldn’t be a bad idea, but I think they can wait until we get further north.” 

Jackson nodded at her, smiling faintly. “I was thinking we needed to make some stops, too, but the jackets and blankets didn’t even occur to me. Good plan. We’ll stop at about the halfway mark and see what we can find that’ll help us out now, and then keep heading toward Moore Haven.” He took a bite of his eggs, chewing silently. “Do we want to try to get to some major highways?” He asked. “It’s not as though there’ll be cars and trucks blocking the way, fender to fender anymore. And heading up the highway - any highway - with a clear stretch of road might be our best bet to getting to each of these capitol buildings within a decent time frame.”

“That’s my plan.” Lydia murmured. “I just took the back roads this time because I didn’t want to deal with seeing anyone, and it seemed faster. Out on the highway, we’re going to run into other people. Even if we don’t, somehow, there will still be a crowd at the capitol building. It wouldn’t be the worst idea to be prepared to defend ourselves. But then, that’s what the molotov cocktails are for.” 

“That’s what the other weapons will be for, too.” Jackson agreed quietly. His fingers clenched around his fork, and he took a deep breath. “There’s gonna be kids out there. I don’t wanna think that I’m gonna need a gun to defend myself from a kid. Everyone else that might try to take a shot at me, yeah, but even during the trials, when it came down to a kid, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t vote for them.”

“We tried so hard to keep all of the kids safe, on our ship.” Lydia said quietly. “There was a little girl who was there with her mother, and they... the others, they got tired of the mother trying to take control of things, and the majority voted for her. The little girl ran after her. Right off of her circle. She was six.” 

Jackson rubbed his hand over his face. “Christ.” He muttered. “There weren’t any parents with their kids in my circle. Just parents, and kids. They tried to keep the kids out of it, but…” His mouth twisted into an angry smile. “They weren’t the majority. So the other assholes there just picked the parents off one-by-one until there wasn’t anyone left to complain about picking off the kids.” He turned his head away, looking ashamed. “I didn’t really… speak up. I didn’t vote for the kids, but I didn’t do much to keep them safe, either. I just let them all… I didn’t want to die. If I’d spoken up…” He set his fork down, staring dully at the table.

“You were trying to stay alive.” Lydia murmured. “I barely said anything for most of it. I was terrified at the end, thinking I would be voted for. But I was fortunate to have people around me who cared more about integrity than survival. We took turns naming people and refusing to vote when we did. I named myself as an option. I just felt so tired. I didn’t think I would be the last one left alive.” She looked out the window, then started eating faster, feeling angry with herself that the sun was noticeable in the sky. She had really wanted to leave while it was dark.

Jackson followed her gaze, then stood up, making his way to the fridge. Searching for a moment, he reached in and pulled out a bag of pita bread, tossing it onto the table. Closing the fridge, he made his way back to his seat, but didn’t sit down; instead, he opened the bag of bread, pulled a loaf out, and then loaded the remnants of his breakfast onto it before rolling it up. He glanced at Lydia, raising both eyebrows questioningly. “It’ll be harder to eat while biking, but we could always hunt for a tupperware container or something, and finish it off later.” He rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “I’ve kind of lost my appetite now, anyway.” He admitted.

“I have, too.” Lydia got up from the table again and put the flares and the blankets in Jackson’s bike trailer, then pushed the button to open the garage door. She wheeled her bike out to the driveway, eyeing the sky again. There was a storm to the south of them, but she thought they might be able to outrun it well enough that they could wait it out while they picked up other things they were going to need. 

Jackson finished packing away the food, ignoring the dirty plates and leaving them on the table. It wasn’t as though anyone was going to be around to clean them up. Grabbing whatever remained of what he’d brought in with him, he hoisted his cooler and carried it out to his bike, securing it inside the little trailer and walking everything out to meet Lydia. Straddling the bike, he looked over at the redhead and nodded. “Let’s move.”

* * *

It was already dark by the time they reached Moore Haven, weighed down with camping supplies and weapons that Lydia had no idea yet how to use. The town was much smaller than she had expected, but she saw that as a blessing. Someone else might dismiss it altogether, and leave her and Jackson alone for another night. She eyed a home with a giant, inflatable Santa in the front yard, laughing before she realized that the sound was coming from her. “Somebody was a slacker.” She glanced over at Jackson. It didn’t matter, either way. It was the first house she had seen with a garage, and she was eager to take a shower and have dinner, probably made up of whatever Jackson could put together from the contents of the fridge and whatever he had brought along. Lydia had eaten four granola bars over the course of the day, and she wouldn’t mind if she never saw another granola bar for the rest of her life, no matter how short it might turn out to be, after everything she was going through. “Do you want to stay here tomorrow and just practice with the weapons?” 

Jackson nodded, thoughtfully, peeking into the backyard. “I think I can set up a makeshift range back here, so we can do some target practice. Hell, we can probably practice right in the middle of the street.” He snorted. “Anything you’re in the mood for tonight?” He paused, his face reddening a little. “Food-wise, I mean.” He clarified.

Lydia laughed. “You’re practically the last man on earth, as far as I’m concerned.” She pointed out. “I did see one other guy at the store, where I met you. But he might be dead now. I’d like to pretend we’re somehow elite and have lobster or steak, but I’d settle for grilled cheese, at this point. I need a shower, but if there’s a bath bomb anywhere in this house, the shower can wait.” 

“The hell is a bath bomb?” Jackson asked, squinting at her, then shaking his head. “Hey, maybe once we get further north, we can make that lobster dream come true.” He teased her, unpacking what he needed from the trailer. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and there’ll be some freaking Velveeta in there. Pretty sure there could be a damn nuclear explosion, and Velveeta wouldn’t get touched.”

“That’s because it’s disgusting. It’s not even cheese. It’s lard.” Lydia pointed out. “Do _not_ make me a grilled cheese out of that.” 

“If I can find real cheese for you, I will make you a genuine grilled cheese sandwich.” Jackson promised her. “Otherwise, it might end up being noodles. Or canned chicken.” He tried not to shudder. Canned chicken gave him the heebies.

Lydia laughed. “I might even tolerate a microwave meal, I’m that hungry.” She admitted. Using the same technique as the day before, she broke into the house and unlocked the door, walking her bike into the garage. She tugged the black baseball cap off of her head and made a face as she pushed her hair back from where it fell over her shoulders. 

“Go shower. Jesus, I’ve barely known you a few days, and I can already tell what that look on your face means.” Jackson laughed. “Go. I’ll cook something up. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the people who used to live here actually do have lobster in their freezer.” He snorted. “Save me some hot water.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Lydia smiled, pressing the button to close the garage door before she went into the house and gave herself a private tour. The bathroom was easy enough to find in the one-story home; she ignored her earlier hope for a relaxing bath and got into the shower right away, washing her hair and standing under the warm spray for a few minutes longer than she needed, before she got out and dried herself off. She had added to the clothes she had for herself, and she put on some cotton pajamas and braided her wet hair before she left the bathroom. “Shower’s free!” She called out, tossing her clothes from the past two days into the washing machine and adding laundry soap from the shelf above it. Logically, she knew that her faster-than-usual friendship with Jackson had been the result of a combination of survivor’s guilt and fear, but she wanted to believe that three days earlier, they could have met in line at a coffee shop and the result would have been the same. 

“Awesome.” Jackson called back. “Last time we stopped, I got some of those freeze-dried camping meals. I made the chicken fajita one for us, figured if they didn’t suck, we could swing around at another store and get more.” There was a pause, and then he was making his way toward the bathroom. “Go ahead and start eating, I’ll join you when I’m done.” He yelled to her.

Lydia smiled as she sat down at the table. Through the doorway, she could see a Christmas tree in one corner of the living room. She got up, thinking to herself as she went looking for a calendar. She found a planner on a desk and tore used pages out of it, crossing off January first and second. She had known Jackson for about twenty-eight hours and it felt like a lot longer. She glanced toward the bathroom, then scrawled a note to herself on February fourteenth’s square of space. Old traditions could still mean something. She put the planner in the backpack she had brought in with her, then sat back down to finish eating. 

The water turned on in the bathroom, and didn’t shut off again until about ten minutes later. Jackson wandered into the room after that, dressed lazily in a plain t-shirt and a pair of boxer-briefs. One hand moved over his wet hair, pushing the golden locks out of his face, and he took a seat next to her, smiling faintly. “Is it okay?” He asked, nodding at the food.

“It’s good.” Lydia smiled back at him. “I’ve been thinking of all the things we can do now, that we weren’t supposed to, before. Like just wandering into a movie theater and watching whatever we want. It would be a waste of time, but if we get closer to Seattle and we have a few days to spare, maybe it’s something we can consider.” 

Jackson grinned at her as he served himself and took a bite of the supposedly-chicken in front of him. “I’m all for that. And… even if that doesn’t happen, I don’t see why we can’t just find the biggest tv we possibly can, plant ourselves on the ground in front of it, and watch some movies on dvd.” He fell silent, thinking. “God, I hope the good actors in Hollywood made it out.”

Lydia nodded. “It would be horrible if they were all gone, just because someone felt vindictive.” She sat back in her seat, thinking. “Maybe we should look for a library in Tallahassee, too. I have a few things that I’m curious about.” 

“Yeah?” Jackson looked curious, taking another bite and finishing up his meal before pushing the plate to the side. “Like what?”

“The location of news stations in Florida. And other states.” Lydia explained. “Maybe we can create an ad and program it to play at night, sort of the same as what we’re going to do to the capitol buildings. I don’t know how any of the controls work, obviously, but I can figure it out easily enough. Manuals have to exist, somewhere.” 

“Yeah.” Jackson murmured, bobbing his head. “It’s worth trying, at least. It’s not like the world is going to end if we fuck it up.” He shuddered again. “I hope.” He leaned back and gazed at her. Then, quietly, he asked, “What do you think is really going to happen if we - or everyone else - don’t make it to Seattle when we’re supposed to? I know they gave out threats. I just… I’m kind of hoping that they’re empty threats, honestly.”

“I think they’ll look for any of us by tracking these things.” Lydia waved her hand, indicating the device implanted in it. “That’s why I want to see if I can remove them. If I can, we have a chance to get away from them. I’m just not sure it would be much of a life, always hiding. Always watching over our shoulders. It’s not right that I feel safer knowing that they’ve murdered so many of us, by proxy. But well, overpopulation was becoming a definite issue.” She grimaced. “I don’t want you to think that I’m okay with the fact that our species has practically been eradicated.” 

“I know.” Jackson told her, reaching a hand out to touch her hand. “I’m not okay with it. I think… there could’ve been other ways around it, if they really wanted to help us as much as they keep saying they do. But it’s done now. We’ve gotta live in this world, the way it is now, the way they made us make it. The sooner we can get those implant things out, the faster.” He grimaced. “Which we might not have any luck with, until we find a more populated area. More people around will result in more bodies. More corpses. We’ll probably run into a crap-ton of people as soon as we reach Tallahassee, and then we might not see anyone again until we reach Georgia. Or Alabama.” He squinted. “What direction did you want to go in, anyway? North, or west?”

“Northwest.” Lydia explained. “Montgomery, and then northeast to Columbia. We can go north from there. It’s going to be a lot of zig-zagging our way up and down in rows, but I think it will be faster this way. It would be so much easier if we had cars.” She shook her head. “But I know that we would just fight over them, if we did have any.” 

“Very true.” Jackson sighed. “Well. Things could be worse. We could have no mode of transportation whatsoever. At least we’ve got the bikes. Wish we had more room in the trailers, though.”

Lydia nodded. “At least we have two of them, now. Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to find one of those pedi-cabs, instead? Something that can hold more things, even though it’s probably less secure than what we have right now.” 

Jackson chuckled. “Probably. But it’s still worth looking into. The only other thing I can think of is to eventually start grouping up with other people, and I don’t know that I’m willing to do that.” He eyed her playfully. “Kinda like having your attention all to myself.”

“That’s mutual.” Lydia said easily. “I’d probably scratch some other girl’s eyes out if she tried to convince you to ditch me. And if you even seemed to be considering it, yours would be next.” She tilted her head as she looked at him. “After everything we’ve all been through, I'm holding onto who and whatever I consider mine, from here on out.” 

Jackson stared back at her, his eyes meeting hers and locking. “Good.” He replied, acknowledging her claim on him simply and without argument. “And for the record - I don’t think anyone could convince me to ditch you. I definitely would never consider it.”

“Good.” Lydia echoed. She took the last bite of her dinner and sat back. “Weapons training tomorrow?” She asked quietly. It terrified her, the idea of hands that had been known for perfect manicures being calloused and capable of committing murder without a second thought, but she supposed that was the person she had become, just one day earlier. It didn’t matter that it hadn’t been her idea. She could have done the same as Jackson and just not voted for anyone, but she hadn’t stopped to consider that as an option. 

Jackson gazed at her, then exhaled softly. “Yeah. Weapons training tomorrow. Defense, first and foremost. That’s what we’ll focus on, okay?”

“Okay.” Lydia got up from the table, circling it to hug Jackson before she wandered through the house to find a bedroom and go to sleep. It was early daylight when she opened her eyes again, and she got up and reached for the blanket with the intent to make the bed, before she scoffed at herself and changed her clothes, putting on a shirt and leggings. She ran her clothes through the washer a second time, since she had forgotten about them in her exhaustion, the night before. Breakfast was more granola, but she found a carton of orange juice in the fridge and wasn’t as bothered by the dry cereal bar. 

Jackson had made the effort to get up to go to bed the night before and had only made it as far as the couch before falling asleep. He let out a low groan and reluctantly rolled to his side as he woke up, then shuffled to his feet and made his way into the kitchen. He dropped down into a chair at the table and yawned widely before fixing his gaze on Lydia. “Morning.”

“Morning.” Lydia repeated. It didn’t seem like qualifying it as ‘good’ was something either of them could do, just yet. “What do you want for breakfast? I’m not a very good cook, but there’s cereal and frozen waffles.” 

Jackson smiled at her. “I think cereal and frozen waffles sounds pretty good.” He murmured. “Did you eat already, then?”

“Granola bars and orange juice.” Lydia laughed. “It’s not a great meal, but it’s at least something. I just want to focus on training all day.” She was wary of the gun, but less so when it came to the throwing knives that she knew she could master in the year that she and Jackson would be traveling. 

“Fair enough. And at least the granola and the juice will give you energy.” Jackson agreed. “Okay. Let me eat, and then give me about half an hour to set up the backyard before we get started. And snoop around the house while I do that, maybe there’ll be something interesting here that we can haul with us when we leave.”

Lydia nodded. She knew that their good luck wasn’t going to hold out forever. The closer they got to their target destinations, the more likely it would be that someone would try to attack them. Seattle was a location that gave her hope and simultaneously terrified her. 

Jackson set about making his breakfast, practically inhaling it once it was ready. After that, he made good on his word to set up the back yard - it wasn’t hard. He found paper and drew quick little targets with red and blue crayons before attaching them to various surfaces with some nails and a hammer. When he was done, he came back inside the house to collect Lydia, and their weapons. “You ready?”

“Yes.” Lydia pulled her hair up into a ponytail and followed Jackson out to the back yard. She glanced over at him, waiting for instructions. She knew that the objective was obvious, to hit the targets. But she liked the idea of letting him lead for a little while. Her mind was already on the next few stops they would make, even though they weren’t leaving until tomorrow. 

Jackson took a deep breath as he came to a stop at the point that he’d marked sloppily with masking tape on the grass. He carefully passed one of the guns to Lydia, setting the other down on the ground and pointing away from them both - the safeties were on, but he didn’t want to take any chances. “Okay. So first thing’s first.” He began, moving around to face her and placing his hands gently on her shoulders. “Stay relaxed. You get tense, you pull the trigger, the gun recoils, you jerk, and the shot goes… somewhere you probably don’t want it to go. Stay at ease. Extend your arms all the way, but don’t hitch your shoulders up around your ears. Keep your legs at hip-width for now.” He gently nudged her feet apart, then moved around behind her once more. “Lean forward just a little - don’t bend, just make sure your upper torso is a little more… in front of the rest of you. Hold the gun tight - tight as you can.” He shifted behind her, peering at the target from over her shoulder. “Click the safety off. Align the sights on the target. Now... Squeeze your finger on the trigger.”

Lydia followed Jackson’s instructions, firing the pistol and stumbling back from the shock of the recoil, though she didn’t hurt herself when it happened, which she had worried about. She immediately put herself back into the position Jackson had maneuvered her into, adjusting her aim to make up for the recoil before she fired again. Her ears were ringing, and she regretted not picking up noise-canceling headphones, but she was ready to move on to the throwing knives, anyway. 

Jackson moved away from her, walking toward the makeshift target and pulling it off the tree. He looked back at her and waved it with a small smile. “I think I’d better watch my back.” He teased. “My shooting prowess is in danger.”

Lydia grinned at him. “You’re okay to keep using the guns.” She shook her head. “I’ll only do it in an emergency. I kind of like the idea of the throwing knives better, anyway.” 

“Alright.” Jackson laughed quietly. “Put the safety back on, and then I’ll show you the basics.” He went to gather the knives he’d taken from the store, setting them up in order of size on the small patio behind them.

Lydia made sure that the gun she had been using had the safety on, then set it aside and walked over to Jackson, eyeing the knives. She picked one up, testing the weight of it in her hand. 

Jackson watched her intently. “You don’t need sharp edges.” He murmured. “What you’re looking for is a sharp point. It’s gotta be thick enough that it’s not going to bend when you throw it. We’re not exactly doing this the right way - you should have really thick, heavy shoes on, steel-toed boots, ideally, but…” He shrugged. “We’ll make do with what we’ve got. So.” He cleared his throat and began positioning her. “Stand straight, but relaxed. Same thing as with the gun. Are you right-handed or left-handed?” He asked. “If you’re right-handed, keep your right foot just a bit further ahead than your left.” 

“Left-handed.” Lydia murmured. She moved her left foot forward slightly, looking up at him. “Now what?” 

Jackson stared at her, licking his lips. “Now, hold the knife like a hammer. Make sure the blade is facing you, with the handle toward the sky.” He adjusted her grip so that she could see what he meant, and then slid his hand over her arm, drawing it back into the ideal throwing maneuver. “Don’t chuck the knife with all your strength.” He murmured. “Just use moderate force, draw back, and throw it at the target.”

“Okay.” Lydia threw the knife, sighing in relief when it didn’t immediately bounce off of the target and fall to the ground. She walked across the yard to examine the target, removing the knife and trying again. She threw the knife a little harder, the second time. 

“How’s it feel?” Jackson asked her. “Is the weight okay? Your grip?”

“I think I’m going to be at this all day.” Lydia murmured. “I think it’s okay, but I feel like I could be doing better.” 

“That’s okay.” Jackson told her, placing his hand lightly on her shoulder. “You get better with practice. You’re already pretty good. Miles beyond where I was when I first started.” He smiled crookedly. “The knife I used was too big for me, and too heavy, and when I threw it, it bounced.”

“I was afraid of that happening to me.” Lydia admitted. She was going to say something else, but an electric buzzing started getting louder, and her eyes widened. She swept the knives off of the deck, crouching down and hoping that whoever was approaching, they wouldn't stop. The broken window had seemed like such an easy way to get into the houses, but now she worried that it was going to alert other people to the fact that the home was occupied. 

Jackson had mimicked her at first, and then slowly rose to get a better look at the street. “Son of a bitch.” He muttered under his breath, and moved back toward Lydia’s side, scowling. “We’re breaking into a dealership, as soon as we get the chance. Scooters are butt-ugly, but they’re sure as fuck faster than our legs.”

Lydia nodded. She moved to pick up the knives. “I think staying inside for a little while would be a good idea. But I’ll see if I can find a local dealer. We’ll have to ditch the cooler and bike trailers with the bikes, though.” 

Jackson grimaced. “Dammit. I worked hard to steal that trailer. And I like my cooler.” He scowled at the sky. “Fucking aliens, taking away all the decent transportation.”

“Well, our options are to keep the bikes and take five hours to go a hundred miles, or get the scooters and take about half the time to go that same distance.” Lydia pointed out. “And with less strain on our leg muscles.” 

Jackson sighed. “Yeah. That’s true. I just don’t want to lose the things we’ve snagged. I suppose we could do without the cooler, but the trailer… I feel like we might need some of the stuff in there.” He scratched at his chin. “Maybe one of us can just grab a scooter with a side-car and shove what we need in there.”

“That could work.” Lydia smiled. “We could both do that, if we can find them. Tallahassee is going to have to be a quick stop, before we move on.” She glanced at the knives as she spoke. “Staying is probably too dangerous. I want us to get as far from there as we can.” 

Jackson nodded slowly. “I know. We’ll pack up what we’ve got now, and get moving. And if by some miracle there are motorcycles, and not scooters, I’m taking one and keeping my trailer.” He grinned crookedly at her.

Lydia laughed. “If you can find an electric motorcycle, go for it.” She nodded. Even though she had planned to spend hours practicing with the weapons, the presence of other people made her wary and she wanted to spend time indoors, instead. “Maybe in another hour or two.” She murmured. 

Jackson warily glanced back toward the sound of scooters and exhaled slowly. He hurriedly retrieved the targets off of the trees, then scooped up both guns - the last thing he was going to do was leave either behind when there were unknown people around - before he ushered Lydia into the house. “Two hours.” He agreed. “And then we get the hell out of dodge.”

Lydia hesitated. She had wanted to spend another night in Moore Haven, but she nodded at Jackson, instead. There was no point in staying. “I’ll go make sure I have everything packed up and see if there’s anything else worth bringing along.” She went into the house and grabbed the map of Florida, spreading it out across the kitchen table. She had been planning their route based on how long it would take to go about a hundred miles on a bicycle. It took five hours to go that distance, since they weren’t professional cyclists and they had the trailers weighing them down. But a scooter, like their unwelcome would-be guests were using, would get them a hundred miles in two hours. She slid her index finger along the route she had intended, deciding to skip the next three stops she had planned for herself and Jackson. “Hey, Jackson?” She called out. “We could make it to Tallahassee tonight, if we wanted to. But I think we should stop somewhere else for the night, instead. It gives us more time to practice with the weapons, and give ourselves a greater chance of not being ambushed.” 

Jackson poked his head into the room to peer in at her. “Stopping for the night probably makes more sense, at least until we get those scooters.” He reasoned, then nodded. “Okay. So what’s our midway point between here and Tallahassee?”

Lydia looked up at him, smiling tensely and shaking her head. “No, I mean, we’ll go get the scooters and make it to Tallahassee today, if we want to. But I don’t want to.” She gestured to the map in front of her. “It’s about seven hours away, with a scooter. We’ll stop before we get there, but I want to get as close to the city as we possibly can, without being so close that we’ll have to deal with being attacked. I don’t see it going any other way. I think we’re fortunate that we’re both relatively calm.” She decided not to mention their nightmares. “But I’m sure there’s someone out there more prone to rage, who wants to make someone suffer for surviving.” 

Jackson shuddered, thinking of some of the people he’d been stuck inside his circle with. All of them had been too focused on going for each other’s throats, and once they’d had their way and the kids were gone, all Jackson had really had to do was stay quiet and let them finish each other off, until the very last few remained. He wasn’t sure how to tell Lydia that his silence had only protected him until the last several minutes of the game, by which point he’d actively attempted to make himself invisible. In the end, the last two people with him had gotten into a charged fight and hadn’t even really cared about what would happen once they stepped off their circles - they’d gone for each other’s throats, and had never made it; they’d dropped dead the second they each took a step, and Jackson had been so relieved that he’d cried before he’d finally stumbled out. Thinking of his relief, of his desire to gather people and keep them safe, and then imagining what would have happened if he hadn’t survived and one of the others had made it out terrified him. He swallowed hard and looked at Lydia. “We’ll do that, then. And we’ll take every precaution we can. I’m not risking you for whatever we might find there.”

“What do you think the world is going to be like, when we get to Seattle?” Lydia folded the map carefully as she spoke. “If all two million of us are there, then what? Do we hold an election? Start a new military?” She shook her head. “I won’t risk you, either. Maybe we should just get out of here. The closer we get to Seattle, the less of a hurry we’ll need to be in.” 

Jackson nodded, rubbing his hand over his eyes. “Agreed. And… I don’t know. I don’t know what the world is going to be like; for all we know, the fucking aliens are gonna take one look at everyone once we actually get to Seattle and then wipe us all out.” He looked at Lydia, a hand lifting without his knowledge to brush lightly against her cheek. “We’ll figure it out. Once we get there, we’ll… do what we need to do.”

Lydia leaned into Jackson’s touch. She tried to remind herself that she hadn’t even known him a whole week, but time didn’t feel like it meant anything, anymore. Still, she didn’t want to get attached to anyone and risk losing them. “I’ll pack up my things and meet you in the garage.” She murmured. 

Jackson nodded again, drawing his hand back reluctantly. During the trials, he’d been scared. Now, though - now he felt much more terrified because now he had someone to lose. “Go.” He murmured. “I’m gonna steal some of those water bottles from the fridge and stash them in the cooler for us.”

Lydia smiled and walked away, putting her map back into one of the backpacks and gathering up everything else she was taking with her. She put her backpacks into the trailer attached to her bicycle, then opened the garage door as she waited for Jackson. 

Jackson met Lydia in the garage, several bottles of water in his arms. He loaded up the cooler with them, then loaded the trailer up with the cooler before giving her a quick, small smile. Checking to make sure that he still had the weapons secure, he said, “I’m ready. Let’s get the hell out of here.”


	3. Moore Haven to Perry

Lydia had been wandering through the store for about twenty minutes when she found a light purple electric scooter. She knew that the color didn’t make much of a difference, as long it got her across the country. But she wanted to be as normal as she could, and purple was her favorite color. She wandered back through the store, picking out accessories that fit her intended scooter and putting them into the cart she had grabbed on her way in. She wasn’t sure what time it was, since she wasn’t near any windows or clocks, but she lost herself in installing her front and rear racks, a case on the rear rack, and a windscreen to protect herself from debris and bugs. She moved her backpacks into the storage space under the scooter’s seat. There wasn’t a lot of room for anything else, but she managed to make a blanket fit between the bags. The road flares and molotov cocktail ingredients went into the case on the rear rack. By her estimate, it would take about six hours to get to Athena, which was an hour away from Tallahassee. She didn’t want to get any closer than that, tonight. She left the bike and trailer where they were, with her remaining supplies still inside, and hoped that someone would find a use for them. If not, it was no real loss. She rode through the wide aisles of the store, but got off of the scooter to go back and grab a couple of bags of apple slices. She tore both bags open greedily and started eating. She and Jackson weren’t in any real danger of starving, since they could stop off anywhere and eat the food that someone had left behind in their kitchen or restaurant. But her eagerness to stay on the road all day meant that she had to eat as much as she could, as fast as she could. She promised herself to be more cautious when things slowed down. 

Jackson had looked ridiculously pleased with himself when they’d entered the store and he’d happened on a scooter that looked remarkably like a motorcycle. While Lydia had been installing the things she’d needed onto her scooter, he’d been determined to find a way to still be able to drag his trailer along. When he realized that the only way he’d be able to do so would be to weld a custom hitch onto the scooter himself - something he definitely had no knowledge and capability of doing - he sighed and resigned himself to deliberately decreasing his small inventory. The bike trailer wouldn’t survive the roads, with the additional speed of the scooter, so he simply added what accessories he could to the scooter - the rear rack he attached likely wasn’t the one that was supposed to go with this particular model, but it was large enough that he’d at least be able to keep his cooler (as long as he chained it down properly). He said goodbye to the tent, but kept the blankets, stuffing them into the rack and tying them down tightly. One of his backpacks was belted to the cooler, sitting on top of the blankets. He figured he could just wear the other one. The weapons, however, he folded carefully into another bag, making sure that the safeties were still on both guns and that all ammo cartridges were tucked safely away in his backpack - the shotguns had been abandoned when they’d entered the store - before he placed them carefully inside the cooler. He’d wrapped the throwing knives inside the blankets. When he was finally finished, he made his way toward Lydia. It wasn’t until he reached her and saw the bug screen on her scooter that he groaned. “Everything I did to make sure that I could ride this damn thing with as much as I could carry… and I forgot the damn bug screen.” He snorted.

Lydia laughed. “I probably wouldn’t have thought of it, if I hadn’t passed a display of them on my way through this place.” She admitted. “What did you end up leaving behind?” 

Jackson sighed and gazed at the bike. “Everything I had in the trailer, including the tent.” He looked back at her. “I figure, if we’re staying in abandoned houses, it’s not like we’re really going to be camping in the middle of nowhere. Not until we get further west, anyway, and once we know that’s going to happen, it’s not like we won’t be able to swing by and grab what we need there. Right now, it’s just more stuff than what we need to carry.” He patted the bike and beamed. “But I figured out how to keep the cooler. Which is good, because I was running out of room to store this shit, and it’s where I put the guns.”

Lydia nodded. “We should get going. It’s going to be dark well before we can stop for the night. At least now we have lights and can see where we’re going.” Despite her earlier concerns, she moved toward Jackson and put her arms around him. “I’m kind of afraid about tomorrow.” 

Jackson’s arms automatically wound around her waist as he gazed down at her. “I know. Me, too.” He said quietly, a small furrow between his brows. “But… it’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. We just have to get in, visit the stupid-ass capitol building, and get out. It’ll be quick, we’ll finish this in no time.” He hugged her gently. “By the end of this, you and me, we’ll be in Seattle, and we won’t be playing any more of these damn aliens’ games.”

“Okay.” Lydia murmured. She took a deep breath in, pulling away and smiling at Jackson before she got on her scooter and put her helmet on. She wasn’t taking any chances. She was a little regretful that they were leaving the tent behind, but Jackson wasn’t wrong about the fact that they could get another one if they needed it. 

Jackson gazed at her, looking a little regretful that she’d moved out of his arms, but he sighed and jammed his own helmet onto his head before mounting the bike. Smiling to himself, he patted the big hulking machine and started it up.

* * *

Lydia parked outside of a small church. It had been dark for a few hours, and she hadn’t seen any other buildings. She had been fearful that Athena was some kind of paper town, but the sight of a building had made her feel relieved. She grimaced as she stood up. She needed to go to the bathroom and she wouldn’t object to eating something before she fell asleep for the night. Still, she couldn’t help smiling as she turned toward Jackson. “We’re here!” She blurted, rushing toward him to hug him. “I have plans for tomorrow, but we’ll be fine. I really believe that, right now.” 

Jackson let out a soft laugh, hugging her back. “Good. I told you, we’ll be okay.” He dared to press a kiss to her cheek before pulling back and staring up at the building. “Thank fuck there’s actually a place to stay. I was starting to think there was nothing here. If there’s a church, there has to be houses and at least some kind of storefront nearby, right?” He drew both arms behind him and stretched. “Eh. Doesn’t matter. We’ve got a place to stay, that’s what matters.”

“Hey!” A voice called out. “I didn’t expect visitors. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.” 

Lydia reached out to grip Jackson’s hand as she turned to see the guy who had spoken. He was standing in the doorway of the church, and she couldn’t see him very well with the light shining behind him. “We won’t get in your way.” She didn’t feel comfortable giving out their real names, so she took a cue from Jackson. “This is Jake and I’m Amy. We’re both exhausted, so we’re really just going to sleep and get back on the road.” 

“It’s not a problem.” The guy shook his head. “I’m Matt. I wish I’d thought to get something like that.” He nodded toward their motorbikes. “I walked here from Gainesville. It’s taken me the last few days.” 

Lydia didn’t think that made much sense. Anyone being presented with the task of traveling around the entire country would have considered transportation. She glanced over at Jackson, wondering if they should just leave and find somewhere else to stay. There was the option of sleeping in shifts, to guard their things. But she didn’t feel confident enough in her ability to use the weapons to prevent Matt from stealing from them. Or worse. 

“Right.” Jackson drawled slowly, staring stonily at Matt. “Shame. You must be exhausted.” He tightened his hand carefully around Lydia’s and resisted the urge to drag her behind him, away from Matt’s gaze. “Well. You’re the first person we’ve seen in days. You been here for awhile?” He made a show of relaxing, though he still felt like he was wound up tighter than a bed spring. “Seen any other buildings around?”

Matt shook his head. “I got here this morning and I was sleeping. The noise from your bikes woke me up. This town is pretty much dead. There’s the church, a bike shop and a couple of buildings that have holes in the roof to prove that they have been abandoned for a lot longer than the last few days, as far as I can tell.” 

“There’s a bike shop, but you’re still traveling on foot?” Lydia couldn’t keep the skepticism out of her voice as she frowned at Matt. 

“It’s been picked clean.” Matt shrugged. He eyed their scooters again. “Is there a chance that you guys can give me a ride, tomorrow?” 

Jackson gave him a tense smile. “Between the two of us and the crap we’re carrying, there’s not much room on those bikes.” He admitted.

“I’m sure if you walk to Tallahassee, you’ll find a bike there.” Lydia added. “I’m sorry, but we can’t help you. We’ll just go somewhere else.” She took a step toward her motorbike, but the all-too-familiar zapping sound had her shrieking in terror. She turned back toward Matt, who was clutching a taser and smiling smugly at Jackson’s prone form on the ground, between them. 

“I think you should reconsider.” Matt said coldly. “Don’t you?” 

Lydia crouched, checking Jackson’s pulse. “We weren’t lying.” She protested, once she was sure that her traveling companion was just dazed and not unconscious or dead. “We don’t have space to take you with us.” 

“I guess that means that the three of us are going to walk into the city together, then.” Matt shrugged. He pulled a remote out of his pocket and walked toward Jackson, crouching on the other side of him and using the remote to scan the device in Jackson’s hand. “I stole this while I was on board the ship that brought me out here.” He said casually. “If they had wanted to, they could have made all of us step off of those circles and die. I figured that was their end goal, but I was wrong. What kind of idiot embeds a device in someone’s hand and doesn’t use it for its best purpose? So I murdered everyone in that room with me. The aliens decided that fair was fair, and they dropped me off here. I’ve been waiting for someone to come along and be stupid enough to stop in this town that only has two buildings. And now, you’re either going to take me with you into the city in the morning, or I’m going to use your boyfriend to kill you and then himself, and I’ll get what I want, anyway.” 

Jackson groaned pathetically on the ground, his eyes rolling up against his will before he managed to direct his gaze at Lydia. He let his eyes wander slowly to his bike, and then to Matt before his gaze returned to Lydia. He wasn’t sure how to communicate what he wanted to her without getting either of them killed, but the knives were still wrapped in the blanket, and his guns were still in the cooler. As soon as he could move without feeling like he was going to lose all bodily function, he would find a way to get to them. Maybe lull Matt into a false sense of security, maybe even offer him some of the food in the cooler in order to get to the guns. He wasn’t going to risk Lydia’s life on a chance.

“Okay.” Lydia’s voice shook a little, and she cleared her throat and repeated herself when she was sure that she sounded more steady. “If you just let us get a few hours of sleep, we’ll take you with us in the morning.” She agreed. “Now I’m going to get some things out of his storage. We have blankets.” She stood up slowly, keeping her gaze on Matt as he followed her to Jackson’s bike. She grabbed the blanket, careful not to let any of the weapons fall out of it. “I’m not leaving him out here.” She told Matt. “But I can’t help him up and into the building, and carry the blankets. You got him into this situation, you deal with it. And he’s not my boyfriend, by the way.” She shook her head. 

Matt bent down and grabbed Jackson’s arm, yanking him up into a standing position. He started walking toward the door as he spoke. “The two of you are way too trusting. You should have known better. This world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows anymore. I mean -” He stopped, looking down at the blood welling from the bicep on his free arm. 

Lydia slashed out once more with the knife in her hand, the blanket on the ground behind her. She kicked at Matt’s ankles and reached out with her free hand to grip Jackson’s shirt, struggling to keep him from falling to the ground a second time. 

Jackson grunted and struggled to right himself so that all of his weight wasn’t entirely on Lydia, a furious scowl on his face as he stared at Matt. “Fucking asshole.” He snarled, clutching Lydia tightly and wobbling.

Lydia pushed Jackson gently, making sure he was leaning against his motorbike before she turned her attention back to Matt. She didn’t want to kill anyone, and especially not in a way that actually got blood on her hands, but she knew that letting him walk away would be a mistake. She slashed at his Achilles tendons, standing up straight and turning back toward Jackson. She felt dizzy and almost like she was outside of herself. 

“Lyds.” Jackson called, gazing at her. “Baby, you gotta do something else.” He told her. “The remote. Don’t forget the remote.” He didn’t want her to get any closer to Matt, but the psychopath in question had access to a device that could easily kill them both. Once he got control of his limbs, he didn’t think he’d have a problem finishing the bastard off, but he didn’t want Lydia to have to do anything that would traumatize her any more than she already was. He shifted off of the motorbike, trying to stand straight in order to get closer to her.

Lydia kicked the remote away from Matt, twisting around to stomp on his wrist when he grabbed her ankle. The world tilted and she was staring up at the sky, the wind knocked out of her. It took her a few seconds to realize that Matt had yanked her foot out from under her and made her lose her balance. 

“I’m going to enjoy this.” Matt remarked, bracing himself on one arm as he moved over Lydia. 

Jackson’s foot flew out, catching Matt in the side of his head. His hand was wrapped around the handle of one of his guns, the barrel pointed directly at Matt’s skull. “I really don’t think you will.” Without glancing at Lydia, he moved in front of her to block her view, then took aim and fired once. He didn’t really need to check if Matt was dead, the smoking hole in the center of his forehead was testament to the fact. Holding himself tensely, he removed the clip and tucked the gun away before he turned to Lydia, kneeling beside her and tugging her toward him.

Lydia’s ears were ringing as she wrapped her arms around Jackson, putting her head down on his shoulder. She wanted to thank him, but she couldn’t stop sobbing and she was just so exhausted, to begin with. 

Jackson tucked her close, pressing his palm firmly against the center of her back and resting his head on top of hers. He exhaled heavily, rubbing her back gently and pressing a kiss to her hair. “You’re okay.” He said quietly. “You’re alright. He didn’t - he’s gone, sweetheart. He’s gone. How’s your head? Does it hurt?” He pulled back a little and reached a hand up to cup the back of her head worriedly.

Lydia shook her head and looked down at her hands before she decided they were clean enough to wipe tears out of her eyes. “I’m okay.” She said weakly. “I don’t think I have a concussion. I just want to go to sleep. I’ll help you move the scooters into the building and do something about that asshole.” She kissed Jackson’s cheek. “I never would have made it this far without you.” She gave him a considering look. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine.” Jackson replied immediately, shaking his head. “But we’re not staying here now. Not with him here. That piece of shit can rot.” His hands moved up and down her shoulders soothingly. “Are you okay to walk a little more? Or - ride, I guess? If he wasn’t lying, there’s a store somewhere down the road that we could hole up in, tomorrow.” He grimaced, looking around them. “Don’t exactly feel comfortable in a church anymore. Actually kinda feel like I desecrated it, with… you know. Shooting a dude in the head.”

Lydia nodded. She stood up slowly, checking herself for injuries. In the fall, she was pretty sure she had gotten scraped up from the rocks and loose gravel in the dirt parking lot. A hot shower sounded like a great idea, if she could locate one. “Let’s just keep going until we find a place.” She grabbed the remote and tossed it into her storage space under the seat of her scooter. “I don’t care if it’s a barn or a creepy gas station, or even a park gazebo. I just want to be away from here.” 

Jackson climbed onto his bike. It probably wasn’t wise, since he’d just been tasered, but he figured he could just drive slowly. Any faster than five miles an hour and a blink, and they’d probably miss everything in Athena, anyway. “Let’s just hope for shelter.” He smiled gently at her. “And for the damn sun to rise. And a good night’s sleep for once.” He exhaled. The last one might be a little harder to come by.

Lydia smiled tensely. She appreciated that he was trying to stay hopeful for her sake, but she wanted to scream. “I don’t think normal is something we’ll ever get back.” She murmured. She made sure that he was staying close to her as she started riding down the road. She carefully rubbed dust and dirt out of her eyes on the way, and it took nearly an hour before she spotted an airfield up ahead, to their left. She waved a hand to get Jackson’s attention, pointing before she turned down the long driveway. She parked her bike behind the building, where it couldn’t be seen from the road. 

Jackson rolled up behind her, wearily tucking the bike out of sight and rubbing a hand over his eyes. Turning to observe the airfield, he sucked in a slow, deep breath, then reached out to take her hand before he carefully opened the door to the building and tilted his head, listening. He felt his energy drain completely when he heard no noises, and it was all he could do not to slump to the ground in relief. Giving Lydia’s hand a gentle tug, he led her into the building, taking the blankets off of his bike as they went. “Come on.” He murmured quietly.

Lydia followed him in, her gaze darting around, even though she trusted that Jackson had made sure it was safe. “I’m going to the bathroom.” She said absently. Days earlier, she wouldn't have been so candid around a guy who interested her. “You can sleep first, if you want to. I probably shouldn’t, anyway. I might actually be concussed.” 

Jackson looked torn. He was exhausted, and he could feel his eyelids trying to drag themselves down, but the idea that Lydia was potentially concussed alarmed him. He also didn’t want to fall asleep and leave her without any company, which would happen anyway if they were sleeping in shifts, but his nerves were shot and his mind was racing with paranoia. Rubbing his eyes again, he shook his head. “I’ll stay up with you for now. At least for a little bit longer. If you’ve got a concussion…” He trailed off, yawning. “I’ll need to be awake to wake you up when you fall asleep.”

“We’re going to die, aren’t we?” Lydia asked quietly. “We’re not going to make it to Seattle. I was hopeful this morning and now I feel incredibly stupid.” She shook her head. She didn’t really want an answer. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She went into the bathroom. When she was done relieving her bladder, she washed her hands and splashed cold water on her face, examining her eyes in the mirror to make sure her pupils were dilating properly. She was too tired to care about being proper, so she stripped down to her underwear and left her shirt and pants in the bathroom. There was no way she could make herself ever wear them again, anyway. She went looking for Jackson, shivering in the cold air from the vents overhead. The last few days, she had kept space between them, sleeping in an entirely different room. But he had saved her life and she realized belatedly, she had saved his, too. She spread a blanket out on the floor and laid down, pulling the edge of it over herself and motioning to Jackson. “Come here.” 

Jackson stared at her, migrating over to her before he was even aware that his feet were moving. He dropped down to his knees, then slowly lowered himself to the floor, his eyes locked on hers all the while. His arm stretched out and carefully wrapped around her waist.

Lydia snuggled against Jackson and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you for stopping him. I really don’t want to do the rest of this without you.” She kept her gaze on his. “I only told him that you weren’t my boyfriend because I was trying to distract him long enough to stop him. I don’t know if any of it even means anything anymore. But I don’t want to do this without you.” She repeated. 

Jackson pressed his forehead gently against hers and sighed. “I don’t want to do this without you, either. It doesn’t matter why you told him that. It wasn’t any of his concern, the same reason why he didn’t deserve to know our real names.” His hand swept gently up and down her back. “I would have stopped him, no matter what.” His lips trembled as he kissed her forehead. “I’ll do anything I can do to keep you safe.”


	4. Perry to Atlanta

The airport was so small that it obviously hadn’t been used for any major flights. It seemed almost like it was privately-owned. There were no vending machines, no restaurants for Lydia to get herself a cup of coffee. She did find a fridge, once she picked the lock on the door with a screwdriver. The contents inside were meager - just some bottles of water and what looked to be someone’s leftover sandwich. She couldn’t be sure how old that actually was, but she threw it outside, rather than let it rot in the trash can. Shivering a little, she wrapped a blanket around herself and went out to get a change of clothing. Back in the building, she pulled on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and the jacket she had yet to wear, from the Walmart in Miami. “I’ve got three granola bars left.” She called out to Jackson, rubbing her throat. She was going to need cough drops from the first place she could find some. “What food do you have?” 

Jackson was already rooting through his cooler, sighing. “Well. I’ve got canned corn, tuna, potatoes, and…” he trailed off, squinting at the torn up label. “Whatever the hell this is.” He glanced at her, looking concerned. “We’re gonna have to leave sooner rather than later, aren’t we? I’m just looking at you and I can tell you’re not feeling great.”

Lydia nodded. “I need more rest, and somewhere warmer. Cough drops wouldn’t be a bad idea, or some tea. My ankle is bruised and I haven’t seen my back, but it probably is.” She hesitated, thinking about their options. “If I’m slowing you down by taking a day, you don’t have to wait for me. I’d miss you, but I know this is all so new and... everything is strange.” 

“Jesus christ, Lydia, no.” Jackson blurted immediately. “I’m not leaving you behind. Period. Not happening. We’ll take our time, or rest or whatever until you feel better, and then when we think we’re a bit more capable of handling it, we’ll pick up the pace, but I’m not taking off on my own without you. I told you - I’m going to protect you, any way that I can. Leaving you behind because we’d have to move a little slower isn’t an option for me.” He rubbed his chin, thinking. “I’m not sure where would be warmer, honestly. Strictly speaking, there’s only two directions we can really head in. I think… I think our best option would be to head as far north as we can, once we get the chance.” He looked at her with a determined expression on his face. “That would be when you feel better.”

“For now, let’s just pack up our things and go toward Tallahassee.” Lydia suggested. “If we see a hotel or a motel on the way, we can stop there and take showers, maybe find some food either there or whatever restaurant is bound to be nearby. We’ll stay there until tomorrow. I don’t want to take longer than a day. Not if we don’t have to.” The idea of a warm hotel room and a hot shower had her already feeling a little better. 

Jackson smiled faintly and nodded. “Alright. And we’ll swing by the first drug store we see, too. Get you some medication, or throw some things we might need in the cooler, or the duffel, or something. Just in case.”

Lydia got back on her scooter and started it. The humidity made her hair stick to her skin, and she pulled it up into a ponytail carefully, deciding to just focus on being cautious instead of wearing a helmet. At the end of the road, she saw a billboard with hotel and restaurant logos on it, and she headed off in that direction, knowing that Jackson would follow her. It only took a few minutes to get to the Holiday Inn, and she rode right through the automatic doors as they opened for her. Leaving their modes of transportation where someone else could steal them was too great a risk, the closer they got to the capitol. 

Jackson followed closely, unable to help himself as he laughed. “There’s something you gotta love about riding a fucking bike right through the front doors of a hotel.” He snorted, shaking his head. He looked around thoughtfully, frowning. “How are we going to do this? I’ve never worked in a hotel, but I stayed at enough of them. Hell if I know how to activate key cards, if we want access to the showers. Unless there’s one down here somewhere?”

Lydia walked behind the counter and studied the computer in front of her. She pressed one of the command keys and coded a key card to give herself and Jackson access to a room with two beds and a hot tub, then added a second key in case either of them needed to leave the room for anything while they were there. She held one key out to Jackson. “There should be a service elevator, or at least enough space in one of them to get ourselves upstairs one at a time, with the bikes. I don’t want to leave them down here.” 

“Neither do I.” Jackson agreed. “I worked hard to liberate this fucking thing.” He took the key, then caught Lydia’s hand, smiling crookedly as he kissed the back of her fingers. “I know thanking you for figuring out the room thing is probably weird, but thank you. I didn’t really have the urge to take a dip in the pool to clean off.”

“Neither did I.” Lydia smiled back at him, then went into the room beside the check-out desk. She grabbed a package of cough drops and some drinks - anything but water sounded great to her, at this point - as well as candy bars and some ramen noodles, since it was as close as she could get to chicken noodle soup. She put everything into the storage seat of her scooter and wheeled it over to the elevator. 

Jackson loaded up his backpack with the things that appealed to him as well, glancing over his shoulder thoughtfully at Lydia before grabbing several bottles of Gatorade - his father had once insisted that drinking an entire bottle of Gatorade consistently three times a day while sick would help him feel better, and it hadn’t steered Jackson wrong yet. He dumped the bottles into a bag and then wheeled his bike after Lydia.

Once they got through the difficulty of taking the separate elevators to their floor, Lydia realized that getting both of their bikes into the room wasn’t going to happen. She shrugged it off, since she doubted that someone would be able to steal them from her and Jackson in the next couple of days. She grabbed everything from her storage spaces on the bike and carried it all into the hotel room. 

Jackson followed her, carrying his own things in after her and looking around the room in approval. “Good choice here, Lyds.” He murmured, giving her a smile. “If you want to head for the shower first, go for it. I’m either going to faceplant in that bed, or turn on the news and honestly, faceplanting is a little more appealing to me right now.”

“If you can find actual news, I’ll be surprised.” Lydia grabbed a change of clothes and her travel kit and went into the bathroom. She took a hot shower, then dried off and got dressed before she left the bathroom, ignoring the second bed in favor of laying down beside Jackson. 

Jackson turned toward her, slipping his arm over her waist. “You look like you feel a bit better.” He commented quietly after studying her for a moment.

“Yeah.” Lydia murmured. “So, what’s on tv?” She could have easily just looked for herself, but she was comfortable and didn’t want to move. The hot shower and warm bed were making her drowsy, and she had to blink a few times to try to keep her eyes open as she looked at Jackson. 

Jackson ran his hand gently over her back, stroking lightly and smiling faintly. “Mindless entertainment.” He replied, sighing. “Reality show reruns. Sitcoms. The kind of tv that makes me want to scream.” He shook his head. “Worthless, so I turned it off.”

“Okay.” Lydia nodded. “I guess there’s no point in the news right now, anyway. It would just be updates on where people are, and I don’t think any of us want that. Not if it puts us at risk.” 

Jackson hummed in agreement. “Besides that… I don’t think I really want to hear about it. Updates on where people are, yeah, but… all I’d be hearing is ‘these are the people who killed your family.’” He faltered, shaking his head. 

“Yeah, I’m trying not to think about that.” Lydia admitted. “My parents have been divorced since I was in high school. I have an older sister. Or had. I don’t even know if she survived, but the odds are that she didn’t.” 

Jackson hugged her to him a little bit tighter. “I was adopted.” He muttered. “Real parents were in a car accident when my bio-mom was pregnant with me, so… adopted parents were the only ones I’ve ever known. No siblings. It was just me and them.” He exhaled slowly. “I really doubt that they made it.”

“Whenever we get to a capitol building, we’ll leave a message. Someone is bound to see something, eventually.” Lydia said quietly, making eye contact with him. “The closer we get to Seattle, the longer we can stay in a place and give other people a chance to catch up.” 

Jackson exhaled again, a bit more shakily this time, and he slowly pressed his forehead against hers, his eyes locked with hers as he nodded. “Okay.” He said simply. 

“I was also thinking that we might be able to get from Tallahassee to Montgomery, and then on to Atlanta and Columbia.” Lydia smiled softly. “I think we can do all of it in a day, even with breaks to eat something. But for today, I just want to stay here with you and not think about anything.” 

Jackson laughed softly. “I think we can do that. I’m surprisingly pretty good at not thinking about things.” He gazed at her, smiling. “Whenever we decide to move, we should get an early start.” He huffed out another, smaller laugh. “It’s funny. Before all of this, I’d never been outside of California. I’m going to get to see more of the country now than I ever did before, and it’s for survival.”

“I’ve only ever been to Boston, but other than that, I hadn’t ever left California, either.” Lydia nodded. “Maybe we should just try to treat this as normally as we can, too? Take pictures.” She laughed. “We could stop off at landmarks. I did think about Disney World for a little while, but with nobody operating the rides, I think it would have been a waste of time.” 

“Not to mention seeing it all abandoned probably would’ve been pretty creepy.” Jackson chuckled. “Not sure how cool I would’ve been with seeing Mickey’s head lying on the ground.” He stretched a little and shifted, drawing her with him as he rolled to his back. “I do like the landmark idea. Treating it like a vacation instead of this… forced road-trip sort of thing makes me think it’ll be better for my sanity.” He looked down at her. “You have some damn good ideas, you know that?”

Lydia grinned. “I just want to make sure that we both survive. I keep having moments of doubt, thinking we won’t make it. But I want us to.” She tilted her head, leaning down a little to kiss him. “Now shut up and let me sleep.” She teased. 

“Yeah.” Jackson replied faintly, gazing at her a little dazedly. “Okay. Sleep.” He lay still for a moment, then tugged her close again, fidgeting around until her head rested against his chest. He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, then stared up at the ceiling.

* * *

After a breakfast of sausage and waffles the next morning, Lydia sat back in her seat and looked at Jackson. “I think we should leave right now. I’ve rested enough and we can get through four checkpoints today, so we might as well do that, right?” 

“Absolutely.” Jackson agreed, wiping his mouth. “If you feel like you’re flagging, though, tell me. It’s…” He made a face. “Day five. We have quite a lot of time left, but considering the fact that we can even contemplate getting four checkpoints done today, I think we’re doing pretty damn well. Better than some other people must be.”

“That’s the theory.” Lydia nodded. “But we’ve stayed back a couple of times now, when we should have kept moving. It’s not a race, as far as I can tell. It’s just a time limit issue. And I feel that the sooner we get through as many states as possible, the less likely it will be that we find ourselves in a situation that takes awhile to resolve itself.” 

“Fair point.” Jackson murmured, and looked at the remains of their meal before he nodded and stood up. “Alright, then. Grab anything you think you need for the road that we might not already have, and let’s go.” He tried - and failed - to not look too excited at knocking out four of their mandated forty-eight stops in one day.

Lydia couldn’t help grinning. She went back to the convenience store inside the hotel, taking a few of the cans of soda from the fridge there before she loaded them into her storage space, under her seat. She had brought the scooter downstairs with her, since there was no way of knowing if anyone else was in the hotel and just waiting to steal from her and Jackson. She was a little unnerved by how paranoid she had become, but she figured any psychologist would tell her that she was allowed to be that way. 

Jackson rolled his bike forward toward the doors, keeping an eye out in case of - well, just in case. They’d thought that the church in Athens had been abandoned until Matt had popped out of nowhere, and Jackson was still angry at himself for getting tasered and giving Matt even the slightest chance to try to force himself on Lydia. He cursed his lack of vigilance, and was determined not to let anyone get the best of them again, even if it required him to suddenly be hyper-vigilant. 

Lydia put her jacket on, then her helmet. She needed a minute to get her bearings and figure out which way to go, but she started off as fast as she could, knowing that they could be hundreds of miles away before sunset. She let her mind wander, only needing to pay attention to exit signs when she and Jackson were out on the interstate. It took about an hour before they got to Tallahassee’s capitol building, and she slowed down on the drive into the parking lot. There were a lot more people than she had expected, but her ideal scenario had involved showing up to find that she and Jackson were the only ones there, so one more person was one too many. 

Jackson gritted his teeth a little at the sight of so many people. He exhaled slowly, shaking his head. “I’m not getting off this bike.” He muttered. “Too much of a chance that some asshat will see it and try to take it.” He looked at Lydia. “We could ride them right into the building?”

Lydia shook her head. “It’s tempting, but no.” She got off of her bike, taking her helmet off. “I’ll go in, then come back and let you go in. I think it’s only going to get worse from here on out, because the further west we go, the more people we’re bound to run into?” She shrugged, not wanting to think about how many other people might be like Matt, now that their country had no real laws. “If I’m not back in five minutes...” She didn’t bother finishing her sentence, choosing instead to run across the lawn and go into the building. For the most part, people left her alone, and she appreciated that. She found a black marker in an office and wrote ‘SURVIVORS’ on one wall, just like she had intended. Her name went underneath it, along with the town she had come from. She could hear murmurs from other people as she crossed the room and wrote ‘DECEASED’ on the other wall, then started writing the names she hadn’t let herself forget. With a polite smile, she held the marker out to someone else, then went back outside and waved a hand toward Jackson before she ran back toward him. “Your turn. Nobody in there wants to start any trouble.” 

Jackson slid off of the bike and cupped his hand over her cheek anyway, gazing at her and shaking his head. “You’re brave. Or insane, but right now, that’s probably not a bad thing.” He smiled at her crookedly, letting the tension gripping his shoulders go before kissing her forehead and slowly making his way inside the building. His eyes immediately went to the walls, once he realized that there were people lined up and murmuring - some people even quietly crying - as they took their turns writing names beneath each heading. He rubbed a hand over his mouth, then moved toward the ‘survivors’ line, waiting until someone passed him a marker. He refused to glance at the list of deceased, which was steadily outpacing the list of survivors, and focused on just his own name before passing the marker to someone else. He didn’t care enough about the names of the people that he’d faced the trials with in order to write their names - no one had given any, in any case, before they’d been killed - and he didn’t legitimately know if his parents had survived or not, so it wasn’t like he had anything to add to that list, anyway. Making his way out of the building, he walked with determined tunnel-vision back to where he’d left Lydia. “I’m good.” He murmured, nodding and climbing onto his bike. “Let’s move.”

* * *

Montgomery had been about as uneventful, but the fact that Lydia and Jackson stopped a couple of times during their eight-hour journey from Tallahassee to Montgomery, to Atlanta, meant that other people got there first and had already continued with her trend of writing names on the capitol buildings. It was already after dark and the parking lot of the Atlanta building was mostly deserted, which Lydia saw as a potentially good thing. The fact that it wasn’t entirely vacant meant there was a risk for someone like Matt to try to attack her again, and she hesitated as she stood up and looked over at Jackson. She didn’t want to be away from him, but she didn’t want to leave their scooters, either. And riding around inside a building, though it had been fun at the hotel, wasn’t going to work every single time they had somewhere to be. 

Jackson looked back at her, licking his lips nervously. “I think, next stop we make, we’re going to need to buy chains or something, to lock these up.” He studied the building for a long moment, and then looked around the parking lot as well. His eyes passed over a small, nervous-looking blonde girl before he looked back at Lydia. “This thing, in our hands. Do you think it monitors whether or not we’re right smack dab in the center of the capitol, or whether we’ve arrived there? Could we potentially just ride right up to the doors and have that be enough?”

“I don’t know.” Lydia shook her head. “I really regret not cutting off Matt’s hand, to test a few of these theories and see what we can actually do. I figure an alligator or a hawk has made a meal of him, by now. I hope the poor animals didn’t get sick.” 

“Well, if they didn’t get sick, at least Matt was useful for something.” Jackson snorted. He looked back up at the building, then shook his head. “We’ve gotta take a chance.” He murmured quietly. “But I’m not taking the chance of leaving this thing behind. We’ll ride up to the doors, then… you step inside while I keep watch. That way I’ll be close-by if you need me, instead of fifty feet away. Then we’ll swap, and get the hell out of here when I’m done.” He looked at her, raising both eyebrows as he asked, “is that okay?”

Lydia nodded. “That’s okay.” She agreed, getting back on her motorbike and riding across the parking lot, up the concrete ramp and over to the doors. She took her helmet off and set it on her seat, going into the building. On their ride from state to state, they had stopped off to pick up some markers and have something to eat, so she didn’t have to go looking for something to write with. She added her name to one wall, then the other people in her circle whose names she knew went to the other wall. As sickened as she was by all of it, she was grateful for something routine. 

“Who are all those people?” A voice piped up behind her, coming from a tall, lanky boy with blue eyes. He looked at Lydia briefly, and then back up at the deceased wall. “Friends? Family?”

Lydia shook her head. “People from my circle.” She explained. “We gave ourselves rules and we all followed them. Well, not all,” she corrected herself, thinking of the woman with the flapper haircut. “Most of us. But I promised to make sure to find people who knew them, and I figure this is one of the best ways I have to do that, right now.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Did you know anyone in your circle?” 

The boy hesitated, and then admitted softly, “One person. My dad.” He looked at the ground with a frown. “My mom and my brother are both gone. Have been for awhile, so… it was just me and him.”

“Do you want to write his name down?” Lydia held her marker out to the guy. “I’ve been doing this at every capitol building. Even though you don’t have other family, you could still add his name to the wall.” 

The boy frowned a little. “We didn’t… I don’t know.” He mumbled. “He wasn’t exactly… a good dad.” He stared at the marker for a moment, and his shoulders slumped before he reached for it.

“You could put your name on the survivor wall.” Lydia suggested. “No pressure, though.” She glanced toward the door, waving to Jackson. 

Jackson peered at her in concern, but came inside slowly, sticking near the door. “Everything okay, sweetheart?” He asked quietly.

The boy froze a little at the sight of the other man, warily staring between Jackson and Lydia and taking a step back. He clenched his hand tightly around the marker he had taken from Lydia.

Jackson eyed the boy - teenager, he amended, when he saw the slightly patchy-looking stubble on the guy’s face - and then blatantly ignored him, focusing on Lydia as he came in with his own marker. He quickly scrawled his information on the wall, then capped the marker and turned back toward them, one eye on the door where both scooters remained. “What’s your name?” He asked the teenager.

The teen shifted uncertainly, taking another step back and looking at Jackson with a little distrust. “Isaac.” He answered eventually, slowly relaxing when he saw that neither of the other two made any moves to attack him.

“Isaac. Nice to meet you.” Jackson replied easily. “I’m Jackson.”

Lydia gave Jackson a surprised look, but told Isaac her real first name, a few seconds later. “We’re not out to hurt anyone. Not unless they hurt us, first.” She said pointedly. “We ran into someone like that, a couple of days ago. I wouldn’t have survived on my own.” She softened her tone when she asked, “Are you on your own, Isaac?” 

Isaac fidgeted. “I was… at first.” He said softly. “I’m with two other people. I wouldn’t have…” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I wouldn’t have made it very far on my own without them. They’re… I think they’re good people. They haven’t done anything to me.” His hands twisted together nervously, and he looked up at Lydia. “I wouldn’t - I wouldn’t hurt you. I know that’s… I know you don’t really have any reason to believe me, but… I wouldn’t. My dad - he hurt me. I wouldn’t do that to anyone else.”

Lydia nodded, her gaze going to a guy walking out of one of the public restrooms. He looked harmless enough, and she put two and two together and realized that the guy she didn’t know and the girl in the parking lot were the ones traveling with Isaac. She reached for Jackson’s hand. “We could probably use more company.” She said carefully. “We don’t want another situation like the one we dealt with, the other night. Someone surprised us and nearly gave me a concussion.” 

“Are you okay?” Isaac asked immediately, looking startled. 

Jackson tightened his grip gently on Lydia’s hand. “She’s fine. Better now.” He amended. “It was kind of a shock. But… yeah. We’re thinking more eyes around us, and more decent people to travel with would be nothing but a good thing.”

“What’s in it for us?” The second guy called out to them, shaking his head. “How do we know we can trust you? Those aliens looked like regular people until they didn’t. You might be more of them.” 

“If you were worried about us being aliens, you’d also be worried about him and the girl in the parking lot.” Lydia shook her head. “We’re just trying to survive. You can say no.” 

“I’ve got no reason to say no.” The guy admitted. He held a hand out for Lydia’s marker, then started writing names on the walls when she handed it to him. “I’m Boyd. The girl is Erica. We’ve been traveling together since we met up outside a dollar store in some little town I’ve never even heard of before. You think you’ve had it rough, just because one guy threatened to kill the two of you? Erica’s got epilepsy. Isaac’s got PTSD.” 

“What do you have?” Lydia asked, knowing it was somewhat rude, but Boyd’s expression made it obvious that he was holding something back. 

“You see me?” Boyd gestured to himself. “I’m a black guy in the south. As far as I can tell, everybody got dropped off somewhere in Florida, including all the racists. I keep running into them, too.” He stared at Lydia and Jackson, then snorted and looked at Isaac. “Go get Erica and ask her what she thinks. You’ve already made up your mind, and I don’t care, either way. She says no, the answer’s no.” 

Isaac ran off hurriedly, keeping his head down.

Jackson watched him go, unsure why he felt gut-punched with every awkward, terrified movement that the younger man made. He exhaled slowly and looked back at Boyd. “Obviously, you don’t have to believe us. And maybe we haven’t had it as badly as you, but it’s still been rough. It’s just… shitty all around. For all of us. And if there’s a way to make things easier for her,” he gestured at Lydia. “Then I’m damn well going to do it. If that means making friends, and keeping an eye on the people around her to make sure that sons of bitches like the piece of shit that attacked us the other night don’t have a chance to do it again, well…” he smirked wryly at Boyd. “Consider me your new best friend.”

Boyd shrugged at Jackson. “It depends on what Erica wants.” He repeated firmly. “None of the three of us had it easy, before all this shit happened. Looking at the two of you, I think it’s easy enough to see that this alien invasion was probably the first time real life bit either of you in the ass.” 

Lydia’s expression changed from hopeful to furious, and she moved closer to Boyd, keeping her voice down as she spoke. “You don’t know the first thing about what I’ve been through, or what he’s been through. You want to judge us based on appearance, knowing what that’s like?” 

“Hey.” A small, feminine voice called out, and the girl named Erica appeared in the doorway, frowning at everyone with her arms folded across her chest. “Is there going to be a problem here already? Isaac brought me back here with the news that we might have some help, and there’s already infighting. I’m not surviving being on a trial where any one person could kill me, thanks to aliens, just to jump right into drama. I’m not about that.” Wide brown eyes looked between Boyd, Lydia and Jackson. “What happened?”

“I was being stupid.” Boyd remarked calmly. He nodded to Lydia, then looked at Erica. “These two want to travel with us. Isaac seems like he’s good with it, and I don’t care. So it’s up to you.” 

Erica eyed Lydia and Jackson thoughtfully. “Those are your bikes out there?” She asked them curiously. “By the door?”

Lydia turned toward Erica and smiled. “Yes. We started off with bicycles, but some other people had scooters and I realized that we could be traveling three times as fast. We were an hour outside of Tallahassee this morning and we’ve made it all the way here. We’re planning to get to Columbia before we look for a place to sleep.” 

Erica looked impressed. “Wow. Well…” she took a deep breath. “If we go with you, I might end up slowing you down. I can’t drive - probably shouldn’t even ride a scooter, honestly - So I’d need to ride with someone.” She gestured at Boyd. “And that means we’d probably need more scooters? So… I mean, we might end up delaying you a bit.” She cleared her throat. “Just so you’re aware.”

“There are ways around that.” Lydia murmured. “We could find something with a sidecar. Jackson was talking about it the other day. But I thought we’d be better off with more storage space, instead of less. If the five of us divide things up among three or four scooters, that’s still better than what we have now. If we keep hitting two or three capitol buildings in a day, we’ll get to Seattle so much faster. You wouldn’t be slowing us down at all.” 

Jackson watched Erica carefully, his eyes darting toward Boyd and Isaac as well. “Is that something you’d be okay with?” He asked them quietly. “Is it - I mean, would that be something you’d be able to handle?” He directed that question specifically to Erica. 

Erica snorted out a laugh and shrugged with a crooked smile. “I guess we’re gonna find out, aren’t we?” 

Lydia’s smile widened and she ducked her head, relieved. It could still be a mistake that she and Jackson were making, but she didn’t think so. “I’ll see if there’s a phone book anywhere in here. We should be able to figure out where to get something for the three of you to come with us.” She walked away, going into the office. The door had been kicked open at some point, and she was glad that she didn’t have to go get her screwdriver to pick the lock, like she had done before. After finding what she was looking for, she walked out of the office with the phone book and a map. “Marietta is half an hour away, and there’s a store there with Vespas. I’m assuming that something is left, but it might not be. It’s still worth checking out, isn’t it?” 

Jackson smiled fondly at her. “Definitely worth checking out.” He murmured, nodding. “Marietta, then?” He asked, glancing at the other three. “Whenever we stop, we’ll usually restock our supplies. Fit as much as we can in the cooler, or the backpacks, I mean. We can get you your scooters, and then the next time we stop can be to grab supplies.”

“I’m okay with that.” Isaac said softly, glancing at Erica and Boyd. “I just… I know that if we end up just walking to Seattle, it’ll take longer than we want it to.”

“I figured that out, too.” Lydia laughed. “I keep making plans and having to revise them.” 

“At least your endgame hasn’t budged. Seattle or bust, right?” Erica smiled at her.


	5. Marietta to Richmond

Lydia was disappointed in the color choices for the Vespa scooters with a sidecar, but she decided it wasn’t really up to her, anyway. The only ones left were lime green and candy apple red. She was just relieved that she could have her scooter back, since she had ended up riding with Jackson while the other three had arranged themselves on her bike, to come to Marietta.

Isaac looked at Boyd hesitantly, then reached for the red one. “I - can I claim this one?” He asked the other man, looking uncertain. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll take the ugly ass green one.” Boyd grinned. “If Erica decides to ride with you the entire time, it’s on you.”

Isaac ducked his head a little, smiling and clutching the handles of the Vespa. 

Erica rolled her eyes in amusement. “It’s not like paint has disappeared.” She commented, playfully pushing Boyd’s arm. “You don’t like the green one, we’ll find a paint color you do like and give it a makeover the minute we stop somewhere for the night.”

“I don’t actually care. Anything getting me out of here faster than my own two feet is good enough for me.” Boyd shrugged. “So all I want to know is when we’re leaving for Columbia.”

“Now.” Lydia smiled. “After all three of you get helmets. I’m not losing anyone I don’t want to lose.”

Isaac was off and running a second later, collecting three helmets before he made his way back to the others and passed the other two helmets to Boyd and Erica with a pleased grin. 

Erica laughed and accepted the helmet. “Thanks, Isaac.” She murmured, pulling her hair back before tucking the helmet over her head. 

Boyd put his on after thanking Isaac, fighting back a laugh. It was obvious that Isaac was getting a crush on Lydia. Based on the way Lydia and Jackson looked at each other, the shy teen didn’t have a chance. But Boyd wasn’t going to tell Isaac that.

Isaac put his own helmet on, looking a little excited. “Let’s go. Can we go? Let’s go.”

Jackson laughed. “Yeah, we can go.” He agreed, and put his hand on the small of Lydia’s back.

* * *

The hotel Lydia found was only half a mile away from the capitol building in Columbia, South Carolina. She was back to feeling like she didn’t want to waste a second, her hope renewed by having more people with her and Jackson. Nobody had bothered the five of them, and she expected it to stay that way. She had already marked the states they had been to, and planned on all of them getting through Raleigh and Richmond, the next day. 

“This place is kinda snazzy.” Erica blurted, looking around the hotel room with interest. “Never stayed in a place like this before. Well. Never really had reason to.”

“Maybe… if things ever go back to normal… you could.” Isaac suggested, looking at her.

Erica smiled faintly. “There’s a thought.” She replied, nodding. She didn’t think that anything would ever go back to normal - not now that aliens were among them, and half the people she’d known while growing up had died - but she wouldn’t be the asshat to tear that hopeful look out of Isaac’s eyes.

Lydia opened her mouth to correct Isaac, but one look at Erica had her changing her mind, and she looked back down at the map in front of her. “I’m going across the street, to the hospital.” She pointed out the window, then down to the map. “If I can’t find the things I’m looking for, we’ll hit at least one other hospital on our way out of the city, tomorrow. It’s a heart hospital, but they should have the medical supplies I’m going to look for. Gauze, stitches, pain medication.” She mused. She was actually going to look for a way to help Erica, if or when the other woman had a seizure. She had a feeling that if she suggested it, the new people in her traveling group would just protest. She wouldn’t have blamed them for it, since most people didn’t have the best interests of others in mind lately, if ever. But in an emergency, she would at least be prepared.

“You want anyone to come with you?” Jackson asked, looking a bit worried. His thoughts were flowing along the same lines.

Erica looked around at them and then shrugged, before looking at Lydia. “I’ll go with you. If you want me to. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen another girl that didn’t suck. Since I’ve seen another girl, period.” She smiled fondly at Boyd and Isaac. “No offense, boys, but I can’t exactly talk to you the way I could to another girl.”

Boyd shrugged. “I wouldn’t want you to try, either.” He smiled. “We’ll be here when you two get back. We’re not going anywhere.” 

“We’ll be fine.” Lydia kissed Jackson goodbye. “But I know you’ll worry, so if we’re not back in an hour, then you can come look for us.” Her backpack full of food had long since been empty, and she pulled the straps over her shoulders and motioned for Erica to follow her out of the room. They were staying on the first floor, since she had learned her lesson about insisting on the most luxurious hotel room and having to bring a motorbike into the elevator with her. 

Erica wandered after Lydia, one hand stuffed in her pocket and the other holding her bag. She had grabbed the first bag she’d seen at the first abandoned building they’d arrived at while they’d been driving, which was a tote. It wouldn’t hold much, but until they could find a Walmart or a camping store, she wouldn’t be able to grab the backpack she wanted. “How long have you and Jackson known each other, again?” She asked curiously.

Lydia laughed. “We met for the first time in Miami, four days ago. We had both planned on traveling on our own, but we also agreed that it would be easier and safer to have someone else along. It hasn’t been perfect. We’ve argued about a few dumb things, like tv shows and movies. But I wouldn’t trade that for anything. I love how normal it is. I didn’t realize how much I took for granted, before... everything. I’m not naive, I know that we’re rushing into this. I don’t care, though.” 

“It’s basically a post-apocalyptic world.” Erica reasoned. “You take what you can grab, and hang on with your nails dug in. I don’t think you’re rushing. I couldn’t reasonably say that and look at Boyd the way that I do.” She snorted. “He and Isaac are my godsends.”

“Are the three of you together, then?” Lydia asked casually, pushing open the door that led out to the hotel parking lot. “I’ve seen more than one triad relationship at the places I’ve stopped. I don’t think I could commit myself to more than one person. Losing people...” She looked over at Erica. “It was like most of the people in my circle were determined to bond with one another. I felt like I lost family, by the time it was over.” 

Erica shook her head. “Nah, this is no three-way. Isaac is way too adorable for me to see him as anything but a little brother, honestly. I feel really protective over him, but that’s it.” She smiled wryly. “Speaking of family, I mean.” She sighed. “I don’t think I could do the triad thing, either. I’ve never felt that way about more than one person before, ever. I met Boyd first, so I guess it might be a little bit like imprinting? But I latched onto him, and he latched back, and then we found Isaac, and… god, I refused to go anywhere without that kid. He’s too fucking good for this world.” She snorted. 

Lydia smiled. “Yeah, I got that same impression.” She found herself looking for traffic before she crossed the street, rolling her eyes at herself for the habit she didn’t need to concern herself with. “If we have enough time, we should look for makeup. I haven’t worn it in days and it feels strange.” 

Erica shrugged a shoulder, smiling crookedly. “I never really had a reason to wear it. Before the alien thing, I was the weirdo girl with the seizures. I just felt too much like shit all the time to ever really care about my looks, and…” she exhaled slowly, following Lydia silently for a moment. “Kids are cruel. No matter what age.” She muttered eventually, her voice low. 

“I’m twenty and just survived fifty counts of attempted murder and one attempted rape.” Lydia remarked. “I know. It’s not just kids.” She eyed the driveway that led up to the hospital’s main entrance. What would have once been an annoying walk felt like nothing, given the miles and miles she had traveled. “I wasn’t very nice, in high school. I would have taken one look at you to decide if you were a threat to me, and if I thought you were? I would have done everything I could to make you feel inferior. I would say that I stopped being like that in college, but it was MIT.” She glanced over at Erica. “I probably got worse. The town I grew up in, it was clear that other people weren’t as knowledgeable as me, about a lot of things. They were happy in their ignorance.” She shook her head. “But at MIT, where everyone wants to be ahead of the curve, it’s brutal. Girls aren’t necessarily in short supply, but I’d say we were still maybe a third of the student population. As cruel as I was, though? I never would have taken any pleasure in killing the people I knew, to get ahead. That’s something I can never take back. I voted. Over and over again. After everything, wanting to wear makeup might sound incredibly vapid, but I just want something normal, and it’s not as though I’d go back to being the person I was before.” 

Erica rubbed her hands over her face, blowing out a slow breath. “You did what you had to do to survive.” She said quietly. “Wanting some semblance of normal after what we’ve gone through isn’t wrong.” She stared blankly at the hospital. “I voted, too. I hated it, I hated myself for it, but I did it. I’m epileptic. I’m lucky the people I was in the trials with didn’t hone in on that weakness and snuff me out the second they could. I voted, and I was vicious about it, because they wouldn’t have been lenient with me. I was just the tiny, unassuming blonde girl that didn’t say anything in the back row, that didn’t get noticed until there were three other people left who wanted to survive so badly that they each voted for the other person and didn’t notice when I didn’t cast a vote.” She exhaled again shakily and looked at Lydia. “I think if we had met in high school, I might have hated you. You kind of seem like you were… everything that I had only wished I was.”

“Maybe.” Lydia mused. “But every bit of control I had in school was because I didn’t have control at home. I didn’t have a father quite like Isaac’s, but I was expected to behave a certain way and only aspire to being someone’s wife. I have - probably had, now - an older sister. I’m going through this odd blend of not wanting to care about any societal conventions and wanting all of them back. Sort of, what difference does it make to get married now, when so many people died? But also, I could have died, I want to get married one day. I just don’t know what purpose it would serve, at this point. I doubt that anyone else would care about upholding the legal system.” 

Erica shrugged a shoulder. “At least you had parents that involved themselves? Even if he was a misogynistic piece of crap. My parents involved themselves with my illness. I mean, I wasn’t Erica. I was literally Erica with Epilepsy.” She smiled crookedly. “That’s all I was. All they could see was my sickness.” She frowned a little bit. “I think… I wouldn’t mind some old traditions coming back. I dreamed about getting married when I was a kid. I think all little girls did. Little boys, too, but I think they were less likely to admit it, depending on how they grew up. I don’t think I’d be too terribly upset if it was never a thing again, though. Marriage doesn’t always mean happiness. My parents have been…” She paused, then cleared her throat and corrected herself. “Were… together for thirty-two years, and they were the most miserable human beings on the planet. Watching you and Jackson, and seeing the way Boyd looks at me, gives me more hope for relationships than their marriage ever did.”

Lydia grinned. “Well, I’m glad to hear that. When we get closer to Seattle and have more time to waste, you and I are going to look at wedding dresses. We won’t have anywhere to store them, but I don’t care about that.” 

“Hell, we might as well wait until we get to Seattle and go house-shopping.” Erica laughed. “Without the shopping part. House-squatting? We could probably find a really gorgeous place to hole up in. Then we can go look at dresses and have somewhere to store them.”

“I’m getting medication for you.” Lydia said suddenly, realizing that she really didn’t want to lose this new friend. She had meant it before, but she had said it at a point when she didn’t want to lose any other person; now, she knew that she thought of Erica as her new best friend, and that gave Lydia hope for what her life would be like in Seattle. “I wasn’t pursuing a medical degree, but I’m going to bring any books with me that have been left behind here, and I’ll sit in a sidecar and read them the entire time we travel, if that’s what it takes.” 

Erica’s lips twitched a little as she looked back at the other woman. “I get the feeling that if anyone could find new, decent medication for me through sheer force of will, it would probably be you. And that means there’s probably no use in telling you that it’s okay, and that it doesn’t matter, so I should probably just accept what you’re planning to do, and thank you.” The twitching became a full-blown smile, and she let out a little giggle. “Thank you.”

* * *

Despite Lydia’s insistence that she would read while someone drove from Columbia to Richmond, she knew that there was no way she would consider leaving her motorbike behind. Every time they stopped to eat or find a bathroom, she read a little more about epilepsy and the medications that she had found for Erica, while they raided the hospital. Her rose pink lipstick had her feeling more like the person she was before the aliens took control of Earth - but only the positive qualities, she promised herself - and she was in a good mood until they got to the landmark building they needed to enter, to mark off one more state on their list. There were a few dead bodies on the lawn in front of the entrance, and the whole world felt like it had gone silent as soon as the motorbikes were shut off. There was no way that whoever their active shooter was hadn’t heard the engines, and Lydia reached for Jackson’s hand and moved as close to him as she could get. For a few seconds, she had the insane thought that if she stayed still, she wouldn’t be noticed and she could escape without injury. 

Jackson took Lydia’s hand to draw her close, then slid his arm around her waist, warily. He reached into the cooler and took out one of the guns to keep himself armed just in case. Taking a deep breath and shaking his head, he started toward the building slowly. The dead bodies around them made it clear that whoever the shooter was, was aiming to be defensive - he hoped. Otherwise, there was a lunatic on the prowl with a gun who was willing to take out every single person they could, regardless of intention or innocence.

Erica looked warily up at Boyd, then huddled close to his side, reaching her hand out for Isaac.

Isaac worriedly looked at them both, then gripped Erica’s hand tightly, swallowing hard.

Boyd rested a hand on both of his friends’ shoulders. He frowned at the sight of the gun that Jackson was clutching, since the other man and Lydia hadn’t mentioned having weapons. But he understood the need for them. 

A man’s voice echoed over a loudspeaker. “I can see the five of you out there. Keep that gun pointed at the ground, and we won’t have a problem. You can come in, as long as you don’t aim at me. If you do, you’re not walking out of here.” 

Jackson pursed his lips and held the gun off to his side, up in the air so it was clearly visible to whoever was speaking before he aimed it at the ground. The clip was empty, but the disembodied voice didn’t have to know that. He looked at the others, frowning a little - he didn’t want to send the girls in first, and whatever random protectiveness he’d been feeling for Isaac made him less inclined to send him into the building first, too. Glancing at Boyd, he smiled wryly. “After us?” He asked, gesturing at the door in invitation before he started forward.

Boyd moved to follow Jackson. “If anything goes wrong, you three run. Get out of here.” He insisted, then went in through the doorway. 

Lydia counted to five, then grimaced and followed the guys into the building. She hadn’t heard any gunshots and she felt that the stranger, whoever he was, had sounded too calm to be erratic and deadly. 

Erica clung tightly to Isaac’s hand, and then shot her hand forward to grip tightly at Lydia’s, breathing hard. “I’m getting real sick of fearing for my fucking life.” She muttered.

“So am I.” Lydia wanted to glance back at the blonde, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off of Jackson and Boyd. This wasn’t the time for childish beliefs, but she kept falling back on them, anyway. She heard a door open from a floor above them, and then an older man who looked like he hadn’t shaved in days was gripping a shotgun as he peered over the railing at them, though he didn’t aim his weapon at anyone. 

“I’ve got food and drinks.” The man offered, after a few minutes of staring at them. “But I’ll put them in an elevator and send them down to you. Try coming up here and I’ll kill you. I’m not saying it to be a dick. I don’t want anyone getting anywhere near me. I’ll help anyone who needs it, but too many of these assholes keep trying to take things for themselves, even though I’ve warned them not to. I guess they thought it was a challenge.” 

“We’re just here to visit the capitol.” Jackson muttered, waving the hand with the implant in it at the older man. He gazed at him uncertainly. “Trying to get to Seattle before the year’s up.” He licked his lips and cleared his throat. “If you’ve got food and drinks, we’d appreciate it. Don’t have much to give back, but I’m pretty sure no one does anymore. Aside from information.” He raised his eyebrows curiously. “Got any of that?”

The man smirked. “Yeah. Almost everybody is dead, and that makes the living think they can do whatever the fuck they want. Digging graves is a lot harder than it looks, too. What do you guys want? Soda? Chocolate?” 

Erica’s head whipped up, and she stared at him. “You have chocolate?” She looked at Boyd. “I might leave you for the terrifying older guy.”

Boyd smiled. “That’s a waste of your time. You can’t have sex with someone who will shoot you if you get too close.” 

“I might make an exception.” The guy called down to them, then snorted and backed away from the railing. 

Lydia stared up at the second floor warily, only looking away when she heard the elevator whirr to life. She walked toward it, even though she knew that getting shot was a possible risk. She had no legitimate reason to trust the man who had obviously killed more than one person in the last few hours, but her instincts said that he wouldn’t hurt her or her friends. She darted forward when the doors opened and there was a crate of soda and candy in the elevator, retrieving it and bringing it back to Jackson and the others.

“Thank you!” Isaac called out, staring up to search for the older man.

Erica looked like she was about to cry. “Seriously.” She echoed. “Thank you. I don’t even remember the last time I had chocolate.” She looked at Lydia. “On top of assholes pretending to be decent parents while worrying about the wrong things, my parents also got it into their heads that I didn’t need candy.” She muttered.

“I promised you that I would figure out a solution.” Lydia hugged Erica. “And I will.” 

“You’re welcome!” The man called out to Erica and Isaac. His tone changed to something like panic when he spoke again. “Grab that crate and go into one of the rooms. Lock yourselves in.” 

“Oh, god.” Erica blurted, staring up at him, before shooting a terrified look at Boyd.

Jackson hauled the crate up, looking warily at the man, but nodding in thanks. “Let’s move.” He said quickly. 

Isaac wasted no time in following the man’s orders, hurrying to the first empty room that he found. He was jittery and looked just about as terrified as Erica did, his long limbs shaking nervously. “What do you think he saw?” He asked softly.

“I don’t know.” Lydia shook her head. She sat down on a couch and tucked her legs under herself, sighing. “I’m tired and could use two or three days of not doing anything, but I keep thinking that if we slow down or stop, we won’t make it to Seattle.” 

“Even if each of us took turns breaking a bone, we’d still make it in time.” Boyd said calmly. “But if you wanted to stop, where would you go?” 

“Cambridge.” Lydia murmured. “I’d move into the medical labs at MIT and test out some things to see if they would work for Erica. Everything has a cure, we just haven’t found most of them yet.” 

“Would’ve been nice if the damn aliens would’ve pitched in, instead of pitting the population against each other.” Jackson muttered, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “They’re smart enough to implant these fucking things without any visible scarring, they can’t cure illnesses?” He asked, waving his hand around again.

“The hands.” Lydia said suddenly, standing up. She started moving toward the door, but a series of gunshots had her changing her mind. There were footsteps in the hallway, but it didn’t sound like anyone was running. 

The door opened and their mysterious supplier of junk food motioned for them to come out to the hallway. “It’s clear. Watch out for the blood, though. I normally get to them before they can make a mess in the lobby, but I got distracted, talking to the five of you.” 

Jackson stepped out into the hallway slowly, grimacing. “Jesus.” He muttered. “What the hell were they trying to get?”

“Oh, god.” Erica blurted, backing out of the hallway almost immediately after stepping into it. She did her best to keep her eyes averted, clutching at Boyd like a lifeline.

“Money.” The guy snorted. “Food. Anything they can get their hands on, really. I think maybe, for a lot of them, it hasn’t managed to sink in that looting isn’t going to do any good. It’s not like pawn shops are open. And then there are the ones who think they can murder someone else and take their things, and that’s what I’ve been doing out here for the past week, just putting a stop to that before it can become a problem.” 

“Why aren’t you trying to get to Seattle?” Isaac asked, looking confused. “Everyone else is. Why not you?”

“I don’t see a point.” He shook his head. “These aliens wiped out most of humanity, and they tell us to travel from point A to point B, all these stops, and then get to Seattle by next January? For what purpose? If they want to kill me, they can come kill me. I’d rather deal with that than live in this world they’ve created.” 

“So you’re just going to stay here?” Erica asked softly. “You don’t… you don’t have anyone that you want to look for? You don’t want to try to make a new start?”

“No.” He smiled. “I’m thirty. Everybody who meant anything to me is gone. The only person I trusted... they were lying to me for years. So this is it for me. But if I can take out a lot of people who might do something stupid in Seattle before they ever get there, I’m going to at least do that.” 

Erica looked a little devastated by his words. “I’m so sorry.” She said softly, shaking her head. “About… your trust being broken, and… and losing the people you cared for. I’m sorry.”

Isaac looked like he was hunching in on himself a little bit. “You could… you could come with us.” He said, shyly, looking down. “This doesn’t have to be it for you.”

Lydia leaned against Jackson as she studied the older man’s unkempt brown hair and light brown eyes. She cleared her throat. “We’re staying here with you for at least a little while. You can’t keep an eye on things twenty-four hours a day. You need rest. Jackson’s good with a gun, too.” She gestured to her boyfriend as she spoke. “And I have some theories I want to test on these devices, but I haven’t had anyone around I was willing to experiment on. I think these cadavers will be useful.” 

“If you think you’re going to wear me down and convince me to leave with you, you’re wrong. I said I'm not going.” The man protested. 

Lydia felt a strange sense of satisfaction as she stood up straight, resorting to the same sort of tricks she had used in high school, even though she had told herself that she was different now. “Who said I wanted you with us? You look homeless and we don’t even know your name.” 

Jackson looked up at his girlfriend, bemused, before looking back at the older man. “You do look pretty unkempt.” He agreed. “But at least give us something to call you while we’re here. Much more useful than ‘hey you.’” He straightened a little. “I mean, unless that’s actually what someone named you.”

“Stiles.” The guy muttered. “I don’t know if I can trust any of you, so we’ll see how it goes, but I’m giving you a week. After that, I don’t care if you think we were separated at birth, you have to go.” 

Jackson saluted him with a crooked grin. “Sir, yes, sir.” He replied casually, glancing at Lydia.

Lydia smiled. “We won’t get in your way.” She murmured. 

“I don’t believe you, but okay.” Stiles shook his head. “We’ll take four-hour shifts. One of you gets to start right now.” 

Lydia looked over at Jackson. “I’m going to be busy with moving the cadavers into a different room and helping clean up the blood on the floor. I think Erica, Boyd and Isaac could use some rest.” 

“Agreed.” Jackson murmured, and glanced at the other three. “I think you can probably pick your own rooms, yeah?” He smiled faintly at Isaac. “Go ahead, rest up. I’ll come get whoever is next once my four hours are up.”

Stiles walked away, carrying his shotgun with him as he walked toward the stairs. 

Lydia leaned toward Erica. “I think you’ve got the best chance of getting him to talk to you.” She said quietly. “Follow him?” 

“Me?” Erica repeated, looking startled. “Well… I mean…” She sighed, and nodded earnestly. “I’ll do my best.” She looked back at the others, then nodded at Lydia again before she quietly slunk away, walking after the older man. She kept her footsteps audible - she was more terrified of the shotgun in Stiles’ hands than she was of Stiles by himself, and the last thing she wanted was for him to think that she was sneaking up on him. 

“Erica.” Stiles stopped walking and turned toward her. “Did you need something?” 

Erica ducked her head shyly, licking her lips. She took a deep breath, and then decided to just be honest with him. “Thank you again.” She murmured. “For letting us stay here. And…” She fidgeted. She had no idea what to say to him - what Lydia wanted her to say to him - that would get him to talk to her. She sighed. “I guess I just wanted to let you know that… we’re all going through something awful right now. And if you… you know. Need someone to lend an ear, I’m willing to listen. I’m good at it.” She snorted. “Kind of had to be.” She shook her head. “Anyway. You don’t have to. I just… wanted to put the offer out there.”

“I get that you’re trying to do that.” Stiles said gently. “But I’ve made peace with my decision. Do you want a cheeseburger? There’s a fast food place not too far from here, and I took all of the stuff out of the walk-in freezer. I mean, somebody has to eat it, right? I’ve been keeping everything on hand for people who come through, because not all of them are trying to kill everyone they come across.” He snorted. “Irony, I guess.” 

Erica looked at him with wide eyes. “I would freaking love a cheeseburger, please and thank you.” She blurted. Stiles clearly wasn’t responsive to coming along with them - especially since he was distracting her with food - but she wasn’t going to stop trying. She’d just find another way to weasel past his defenses and convince the older man to join them. 

Stiles nodded to her and led the way into a kitchen. There wasn’t a stove there, but he had picked up a hot plate and was using that to cook most of his food. He gestured for Erica to sit down at the small table. “Most of the people who come through here want to tell me what they were doing when they got abducted.” He remarked. “I figure it doesn’t really matter. Anyone alive went through the same shit, and all we can do now is move forward. Well, those of us who want to, anyway. Like I said, this the end of the line for me. Don’t give me shit about being depressed, though. I’m not.” 

“Kinda get why someone might think so, though.” Erica replied quietly, studying him. “But I don’t think you’re depressed. I think you, like everyone else left on this planet, are about five-thousand percent done. Don’t really blame you, either.” She folded her hands together, exhaling softly. “I don’t think it matters what I was doing when I got abducted. I think what matters is the fact that - out of fifty random people - I’m the one that survived. I survived, and I’ve been running into other decent people that have survived, too.” She cleared her throat. “Now we just need to keep surviving.”

“Well, that group you’re with seems like they’re going to make sure of that.” Stiles pointed out. “Medium rare or well-done?” 

Erica gave him the judgiest look she was capable of. “What do you take me for? Medium rare, please.”

Stiles laughed and set the hamburger patties for himself and Erica on the hot plate, then turned toward her. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, then shrugged one shoulder like he was making a decision, before he spoke. “I was an FBI agent. I guess that there’s no point in me going on like that means something, but when everybody else has made their way through here, order’s going to mean something. You don’t know what you’re going to walk into, anyway. That’s one of the reasons I’m not interested in going. It’s been shit, having people show up in groups like yours. However many people survived, they’re all going to be crammed into one city? That’s not going to be safe.” 

Erica snorted. “Maybe there’s a way to send up a signal. Let the aliens know that whatever their huge plan is, it’s gonna end in a clusterfuck.” She folded her arms over her chest. “Jackson seems to know how to use weapons. Lydia might, too, I think. And Boyd is huge - just his existence is enough to get some lunatic to back off. But… it’d be worth it, having someone trained to do that with us, you know? I know, I know, you don’t want to go, you don’t want any part in that. I just… I don’t understand why you would just want to stay here. That’s all.”

“The devil you know.” Stiles smiled crookedly. “Being on my own for however long the rest of my life is might suck, but I was pretty much on my own before, anyway. At least I know that if I wake up in the morning and go about my day by myself, I don’t have to deal with other people trying to kill me or steal from me. If I want to live in a different house every night, I can do that. I don’t have to answer to anyone else. I know there’s the whole consequence for anyone who isn’t in Seattle by this time, next year. But there’s nothing saying you have to stay there. If you end up going, turn around and leave as soon as you can. You can live anywhere else on this continent, now. You’d be safer if you did.” 

“Yeah.” Erica murmured, gazing at him. “It’s just… your way sounds really, really lonely. That’s all.” She rubbed a hand over her forehead and sighed. “If I can’t convince you to come with us… maybe once we make it to Seattle, we will come back. Catch up with you.”

Stiles blinked. He turned back toward the burgers and flipped them over. “That sounds sweet of you, but I’ll probably be dead before you can get back across the country. If they’re telling the truth, anyone not in Seattle by January first is going to die.” 

“And if they aren’t telling the truth?” Erica challenged him, raising an eyebrow. “This whole thing - everything they’ve done - stinks of dangerous, bad, dramatic reality tv. They already got rid of tens of thousands of people, and they lived among us. They knew us. For all we know, something big is going to go down in Seattle - maybe they threw us a red herring. Maybe the people who make it to Seattle are going to die.” She looked down, scowling. “Maybe that’s their ‘prize’ for winning.”

“Billions.” Stiles corrected. “Billions of us are gone.” He put cheese slices on the burgers and let it melt a little, before he put each burger on a bun and set Erica’s plate down in front of her. “They’re telling the truth. They think they’re doing us a favor. Years and years of their research haven’t taught them that we don’t want to be exterminated like this. I don’t know if it would have made a difference, if they had asked us. I’m sure someone out there would have said yes, the population is too high, end our suffering.” He sat down across from her with his own plate. “Every mass-produced thing is just going to waste. And there’s another thing. I haven’t seen any young kids come through here. Everybody is about fourteen or older. So either every child got wiped out, or they’re somewhere else.” 

Erica thought back to her own trial and shook her head. “I can flat out tell you that no kids were with me when I got snatched up. I think I was actually the youngest person there.” She stared at the cheeseburger for a long moment, and then sighed, reaching for it. “There’s gotta be a way to get through to them. There’s gotta be a way to explain this all. I don’t want to die just because I didn’t make it to a town on the west coast that I’ve never been to before in my life. I don’t want to die because fucking aliens decided that they needed to play God and force us to choose who got to live and who had to die.”

“Yeah, but that’s the world we live in, now.” Stiles took a bite of his cheeseburger and sat back, chewing carefully as he tried to figure out a way to be more optimistic, for her sake. He didn’t really see the point in it, but he knew that there was also no point in making her hate the rest of her life, no matter how much time anyone had left. “You don’t have to listen to anything I’m saying.” He told her. “You’ve known me less than an hour and you’ll move on from here in a week. Probably sooner than that. Don’t dwell on the words of somebody who’s obviously a bitter old man.” He shook his head at her. 

Erica smirked at him in amusement. “Nah. My dad was a bitter old man. Cursed his whole lot in life. Cursed getting my mom pregnant when he did, cursed me for having epilepsy. He played the part of a decent, worried dad, but he was a piece of shit. You’re nowhere near as bad as he was.” She cleared her throat. “I like you. I don’t know you that well, that’s true, but… I think I’m a pretty good judge of character. I think you’re someone decent that just got too many hits, too many times. It’s easier for you to hate the world and actually be bitter than it is to still have some hope that maybe the world might not have fucked you over.” She fell silent for a moment. “You don’t want to get attached. Because if you do, and then… you lose another person… that’s the breaking point.”

Stiles nodded. “How old are you?” He laughed, taking another bite of his cheeseburger as he waited for her to answer. He knew he was already attached, and he was trying his best to ignore it. It wouldn’t help anyone, in the long run. It definitely wouldn’t help him. 

“Eighteen.” Erica replied, glancing back at him as she ate. “For the record, I was at the hospital, getting my release papers when I was taken.” She smiled crookedly.

“Everybody has a story.” Stiles murmured. “I hope your friend figures out whatever it is that she needs to cut into corpses for. Do you want something to drink?” 

“I’ll love you forever if you tell me you’ve got a can of Coke.” Erica told him fervently, smiling.

“I’m not sure your boyfriend would appreciate that.” Stiles got up from the table and grabbed a can of Coke from the fridge, holding it out to her. 

Erica reached out to grab the can with both hands, beaming. “I never said it would be romantic love. I could love you like a big brother.”

“Well, I guess I can’t argue with that.” Stiles snorted. He sat back down. “Where would you be, if you weren’t here?” 

Erica cracked the can open and took a sip, thinking. “I’m not sure. Probably in the hospital? My epilepsy is really bad, sometimes a short hospital visit would drag itself out for hours. Days, at the worst.” She looked at him. “What about you?”

“I’d be investigating a case. There was this one I was working on. A drug dealer. He’s dead now.” Stiles laughed. “And if he’s not, he’s not my problem.” 

Erica smiled crookedly at Stiles, the corners of her mouth turning up. “Did you… you know. Have anyone special?”

“No.” Stiles shook his head. “Work kept me pretty busy. Dating wasn’t a priority. Besides, they make all kinds of toys to deal with sexual frustration, now. Or, they did? I don’t know what’s going to happen to every industry that existed before.” 

Erica snorted. “The aliens will either pick it right back up again, or it will all crash and burn to the ground and people will figure something else out. That’s what they usually do. It’s what they should do, at least.”

The more he spoke with Erica, the more Stiles felt like he was at war with himself. This was why he had stayed on the second story of the building and refused to interact with people beyond giving them food and telling them to get out, if he wasn’t shooting them. He finished the rest of his cheeseburger in a few quick bites. “You’d better get back to your friends.” 

Erica frowned a little at him. “Why? Sick of my company?” She asked.

“No.” Stiles shook his head. “But it’s late and you should rest.” 

Erica eyed him for a moment, and then sighed, nodding. “Yeah, there is that.” She agreed. “Okay. Fine.” She finished up her burger, then grabbed her can of Coke before standing up. She stared at Stiles for a long moment. “Don’t be a stranger, okay?” She told him. “Come find us, if you get bored, or lonely, or whatever.”

“Okay.” Stiles grabbed the plates and carried them over to the sink. 

Erica watched him for a moment longer, and then sighed. “Right.” She murmured to herself. “I’ll see you later, Stiles.” She called out.


	6. Richmond to Fredericksburg

Lydia finished her shift of sentry duty and wandered through the building, looking for Jackson. She hadn’t made a lot of progress with the cadavers, but she had only been testing what each control on the remote did. Once she got some sleep, she planned to cut into one of the hands and see what it would take to disable the devices. 

Jackson sat at a table, the map in front of him. His head was pillowed on his arms, and his eyes slowly drifted shut every few minutes before suddenly snapping wide open again and regaining focus. After a minute, he straightened up, stretching his arms wide and yawning.

“What are you doing?” Lydia rested her hands on Jackson’s shoulders and peered down at the map. “Do you want to leave sooner than a week from now?” 

Jackson’s hands lightly came down on top of hers, and he tilted his head back to look up at her. “I thought about it when we initially got here, but… I don’t think so. I think we should leave when we originally planned. I was just studying the map. Finding our route.” He yawned again, then tilted his head to the side to kiss the back of one of her hands.

Lydia smiled and moved around the chair, sitting sideways on Jackson’s lap. She rested her cheek on his shoulder. “North to Maine, then back down to get the states we missed on our way up. Hopefully, we’ll have Stiles with us. I don’t understand his determination to stay here. If he wants to die, he doesn’t have to die here. He can come with us and just stay back while we go to Seattle.” 

Jackson slid one hand down to rest on her thigh, holding her in place, while the other hand wrapped around her waist. His head tipped slightly to rest against hers. “We’ve got the rest of our stay to wear him down.” He murmured. “But if we can’t convince him to come with us…” He sighed. “We might just have to let it go. I don’t know why he wants to stay here, either, but if he’s determined to do it, then not much is gonna change his mind unless we’ve got a really compelling argument to convince him with.”

“If there wasn’t such an age gap between him and Isaac, I’d convince them that they liked each other.” Lydia muttered, smiling. “Maybe it’s a mistake, trying to collect people, the way that I have been.” 

Jackson smiled at her. “It’s not like you’re smoking them to death and pinning them to a poster board.” He teased gently, nipping lightly at her shoulder. “You’re gathering people together to keep them safe. We have more of a chance of survival, sticking together like this. Less people could come along and pick us off.”

“Yeah, that was the worst moment I’ve had in a while. Even having to vote for my own survival, there was a semblance of order to it and most people didn’t deviate from that.” Lydia frowned. “It seems like everyone’s story is different, and it’s how we’ve all been able to relate to one another. Maybe we should make Stiles talk about it. It might help him to know that we went through it, too. It’s not the same as just knowing that it happened. Hearing the how and why of each circle changes things.” 

Rubbing his palm up and down her back, Jackson thought it over silently, frowning a bit. “Maybe.” He murmured. “It couldn’t hurt anything, to get him to talk about it along with us. At the very least, it might enlighten us about why he’s so damn determined to stick it out here.”

Lydia nodded. “I was planning to go sleep, but maybe I should wait until he explains himself? Well, that sounds harsh. I didn’t mean that we would interrogate him.” 

Jackson huffed out a laugh. “We could build a contained fire pit and sit around it, telling stories.” He suggested. “I know it sounds like I’m making a joke, but I’m not. Sometimes, fire makes people feel relaxed and comfortable enough to spill their guts out. Besides, if he’s got chocolate, maybe he’s got the rest of the stuff to make s’mores with. He already won Erica over with the candy bars, he’ll win me over for life if he’s got some goddamn marshmallows hiding somewhere.”

“If he doesn’t, we can always go get some.” Lydia pointed out. “With four other people, we don’t have to worry about the bikes being stolen, or any of the supplies we have.” 

“Good point.” Jackson hummed, looking at her thoughtfully. “You’re very smart. I like smart.” His lips twitched, and he leaned in to kiss her.

“Hate to break up the lovefest.” Boyd spoke as he walked into the room. “But we might want to go over the supplies we’ve been carrying around, to see if we need to pick up or discard things. And sooner or later, we’re going to have to figure out how we’re getting around in the snow, further north. It’s not like there are crews to clear the streets, now.” 

“Fuck.” Jackson cursed after staring at Boyd blankly for a moment. He slumped back in his seat and sighed, rubbing one of his hands over his eyes. “That’s a good plan. A better one would be if the goddamn aliens would give us a fucking Zamboni or a snow-plow to ride once we get up there.”

“They run on gas, though.” Lydia frowned. “Maybe we can just find some horses and have them pull us in a sleigh.” She started laughing a second later. “It’s ridiculous, but at least it would be faster than trying to walk hundreds of miles in the cold.” 

“It is how people got around before cars took over.” Jackson agreed, chuckling softly. He shrugged. “If we can find horses and a sleigh, I say we do it, and put the bikes in storage. A sleigh, or carriage, or coach, or something… bound to have more room for more supplies than a scooter.”

“Storage.” Boyd repeated, laughing. “Boy, nobody gives a fuck about storing things anymore. What, you’re gonna come back here and get your shit later on? How? Riding another scooter all the way back, so you can swap them out?” He shook his head at Jackson. “If we ditch the scooters, then they’re just not ours anymore.” 

Jackson scowled at him. “I like mine.” He muttered petulantly before sighing and rolling his eyes skyward. “Fine. We pack up the shit we need, leave the scooters for whoever else happens to find them, and travel by horse until that Satan weather is over.”

“Or until we’re out of it.” Lydia added. “Unless we find an electric snowmobile, I think that’s the best we can do.” 

“Well, we’re heading north.” Jackson hummed. “There’s gotta be something similar to that there, right? I’ve never been on this side of the country before, you would know better than me.”

“They don’t make electric snowmobiles.” Lydia explained patiently. “I guess we could make our own, if we had the right parts for it. But that requires a lot of time and effort that we really don’t have. Horses make more sense.” 

“Right.” Jackson said quietly, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “Alright. Horse-drawn… whatever-we-can-find it is.” 

“There are four stables north of here.” Stiles called out as he walked into the room. He poured himself a cup of coffee. “You get to know the area when you have to investigate all sorts of weird crap. Why do you need horses, though?” 

Jackson absolutely did not jump at Stiles’ appearance, clearing his throat. “Uh. For when we get further north. With the snow and everything. Hard to remember when you’re further south, but it’s January.” His brows furrowed a little.

“I guess none of you were dealing with a hangover, then.” Stiles snorted. “Happy New Year, it’s the apocalypse.” 

Jackson blinked at him, and then sighed. “Well, you’re just a ray of sunshine, aren’t you?”

“Because I stated a fact?” Stiles rolled his eyes. “January first is supposed to be a day when you promise yourself that your life will change, but nobody ever fucking means that. Definitely not how it happened.”

Jackson leaned back in his seat and observed Stiles. He was silent for a moment, and then shook his head. “I doubt anyone wanted life to change this much, but it’s happened. We can’t do anything except roll with it. Maybe outsmart a couple of fuckers along the way.”

“Well, that goes without saying.” Stiles blew on his coffee, then gave the fridge a considering look and opened it, getting some hazelnut creamer out and adding it to his drink. “If you want to get to the horses, you should go now instead of waiting. Bring them back if you want, or don’t, and go ahead with your plan to keep traveling north. You’re going to be better off finding a cheap store for warmer clothes, because the good stuff has probably already been taken by now.” 

Jackson glanced at Lydia thoughtfully. He already knew what he wanted to do - grabbing the horses and bringing them back - but he wanted to know what her plan of action was. She had a far better head on her shoulders than he did when it came to this. “What do you think?” He asked quietly.

Lydia smiled, fighting back a yawn as she looked from Jackson to Stiles. “Even if you don’t want to go to Seattle, couldn’t you at least travel with us for a while? You’re defending a territory that’s familiar to you, but there’s no real reason for that, anymore.” 

Stiles ran a hand over his face. “You guys aren’t going to leave me alone until I say yes, right?” 

“Do you really want to be the person that says no to this face?” Jackson asked him, gesturing at Lydia. Seeing Erica wander in with an interested look on her face, Isaac trailing her, Jackson smirked and pointed. “And that face? If you want to feel disappointed in yourself for the rest of your life, go ahead, say no.” His lips twitched.

Erica looked between them all, her interest turning to bewilderment. “Say no to what? What are we saying no to?”

“Whether or not we’ll leave Stiles alone if he tells us no, next time we ask him to come with us.” Jackson replied, and stared at Erica, waiting patiently.

Erica’s eyes widened, and she whipped around to look at Stiles. “Don’t say no!” She blurted. “Come with us. Please? Please, please, please?”

Stiles pointed to each of them in turn. “If all of you are in here, who the hell is watching the doors?” He shook his head and ran out of the room, going to a room with security monitors. He knew that it didn’t matter to them, since they could just move on from a place and keep going. But that wasn’t his plan, and he wanted to defend the place he considered his home. 

Jackson gazed around and then sighed, pressing a kiss to the side of Lydia’s head. “Go get some rest.” He told her. “I’ll keep an eye on the doors.” He dithered for a minute, and then shook his head. “If he comes back out… I don’t know.”

Lydia nodded. She had never been a fan of letting her true emotions show, but the past week had taught her to be honest whenever she could. For that reason, she didn’t care that the others could see how disappointed she was. “Whose turn was it to keep watch on things?” She already knew the answer, but she asked it to make a point. 

Isaac looked guilty, but meekly stepped forward, lifting his hand. “Mine.” He said quietly. 

“Then you go apologize to him for leaving the room.” Lydia insisted. “If we want him to come with us, we have to convince him that us leaving without him would be the worst thing he ever had happen to him, and that’s not going to be easy, after everything else.” 

Isaac nodded, his shoulders slumping. “I’ll go do it right now.” He said quietly, and wandered off in the direction Stiles had gone in.

Erica stared after Isaac and sighed, then leaned forward and looked at Lydia. “How the hell do we convince him of that?” She asked the other woman softly. “How do we get through to him?”

“At this point, I’m thinking chloroform and zip ties.” Lydia muttered. 

Erica smirked. “You make the chloroform, I’ll find the zip ties.” She told Lydia.

Lydia laughed. “If he doesn’t change his mind in the next eight hours, I’ll do that.” She said firmly. “For now, I’m going to sleep.” 

Erica nodded at her. “I hope you sleep well.” She told Lydia. “I can come and wake you in a few hours, if you’d like.”

“Thanks.” Lydia smiled. She kissed Jackson, then got up from his lap and left the room. Instead of going to the room she was sharing with Jackson, she went into the security room and rested her hands on the counter in front of her, peering past the monitors at Stiles. “You started doing this to save people, didn’t you?” 

“Yeah.” Stiles glanced up at her, then looked back at the screens in front of him. “What’s your point?” 

“My point is that we’ll be here another six days and in that time, anyone who would have come through will have done that and moved on. All of the people you wanted to protect will be gone. If you want to keep protecting them, you’re going to need to move on from here. You could do that on your own, with nobody watching your back, or you could come with us.” 

Stiles laughed, leaning back in his seat and looking up at her again. “You’re not going to give up on me coming with you, are you?” 

Lydia shook her head slowly. “The humanitarian approach doesn’t seem to be working on you.” She commented. “So I’m going to just tell you that you’re a valuable asset. You’re better with weapons and you’re not trying to kill any of us with them, and that’s more than I can say for some of the people I’ve run into. Without your help, Erica and Isaac might die.” 

“I don’t think you would let that happen.” Stiles protested. “They’re all here because of you, and if you try to tell me that I’m wrong, I’ll suffocate you in your sleep.” 

“You won’t shoot me?” Lydia smirked. 

“Waste my bullets?” Stiles scoffed. “I figure suffocation is probably a more considerate option. There’s your humanitarian approach.” 

Lydia decided that the twisted, albeit harmless flirting wasn’t getting them anywhere. She glanced over her shoulder, then walked around the desk and sat down beside Stiles. “Did you have kids in your circle?” 

Stiles’ eyes met hers, but he didn’t respond. 

“There were kids in mine.” Lydia continued. She hadn’t needed him to speak, anyway. “Three of them. The youngest kid was maybe six years old. Her mother was in the room with us. Someone asked her what she would do if it came down to the two of them, and only one could survive. She didn’t answer quickly enough, so most of the group decided that meant that she would kill her own daughter to save herself. They were going to vote for her to die, but she stepped off of her circle. She left her daughter. The little girl didn’t even understand what was going on.” She shuddered. “She ran toward the door, and she died. These aliens who claim they’re doing what’s best for humanity don’t really care. They could have left her alone. She was innocent. She just broke one of their rules. We’re their entertainment. I’m scared of what’s next, and I’m scared of being on my own. I’m trying to figure out if I can take all of the devices out of our hands, or if that would kill us.” 

“You don’t want to do that.” Stiles licked his lips. “How much do you trust the others? If I told you something, would you go tell all of them right away?” 

“It depends.” Lydia eyed him warily. “Are you going to tell me that you’re one of them? An alien?” 

“No!” Stiles snapped, then looked apologetic. “Sorry. I’m not, though. I knew one. Personally. I didn’t know that I knew one until it was too late, but...” He ran his fingers through his hair. “This stays between you and me, Lydia. If you tell anyone else, I really won’t hesitate. I need you to understand that. I’d have to kill you. I can’t have this getting out.” 

Lydia waited for the inevitable gut reaction that told her she was in a dangerous situation. It didn’t happen, and she wondered if her common sense had been all but eradicated. “Okay.” She said quietly. “I’ll keep your secret.” 

“I was never in a circle.” Stiles admitted. “The alien I knew turned out to be the guy I was partnered with, and he implanted the device in my hand while I was unconscious, then triggered it to have all of the checkpoints activated. I don’t have to go anywhere if I don’t want to, so I haven’t. I was never in Florida, like the rest of you. I’ve been here this entire time.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” Lydia frowned. 

“Because you’re all so convinced that I’m a survivor like the rest of you. I’m not.” Stiles shook his head. “I was never going to say anything to anyone about it, but you want so badly for me to be this hero type, and that just isn’t who I am. You needed to be told. The devices can’t be removed. They’re connected to our nervous systems. It’s not just a device in our hands, it’s wired through the entire body. It would be instant paralysis.” 

Lydia rubbed her eyes, trying to process what he had just told her. “Stiles.” She said firmly. “You could have stayed anywhere, but you chose a place where people were going to have to show up. You’ve been gathering supplies to give out to people who are hungry and tired. You might have yourself convinced that you’re just some ordinary guy who had a lucky break, but the rest of us know better. We’re leaving here. We were going to stay a week and try to convince you, but now I’m just telling you. You’re packing your things and we’re leaving in three hours.” She stood up. “I won’t tell them, but I’m going to say that you’ve agreed to come with us.” She left the room before he could protest, since she would have just kept arguing with him about it. She longed for the opportunity to sleep, but she was more interested in going somewhere else. 

Stiles caught up to her in the hallway. “If you want me to come with you, then we’re staying here until you’ve gotten some sleep.” He walked back into the kitchen. “I’m coming with you.” He told the group gathered there. 

Erica stared at him hopefully, looking undeniably relieved. “Yay!” She blurted, jumping up. “I’m not going to hug you because you look like one wrong move from any of us will make you shoot, but for the record, I’m freaking relieved that you’re coming.”

“Yeah, we’re glad, too.” Boyd gestured between himself and Isaac. “Even though it’s going to mean less storage space and one more mouth to feed.” 

Stiles snorted. “I thought the plan was to go get horse-drawn carriages like it’s the Old West.” 

“That is the plan.” Erica said earnestly, nodding. “Unless someone else came up with something. Or if you have an idea?” She looked at Stiles with widened eyes, raising her eyebrows.

“We have a year.” Stiles shrugged. “We could keep going and deal with the snow, or we could find a house to live in and stay there until March or April, then move on.” 

Isaac fidgeted a little, chewing on his lower lip. “What if… what if we get, you know. Comfortable?” He asked carefully. “What if we know we have to move on, and we just… don’t?”

“We’re hitting all forty-eight states as quickly as we can.” Lydia protested, having joined them. She moved to stand beside Erica. “I get that you think it’s so cute that Stiles doesn’t actually want to go anywhere, but he agreed to go, finally, and if he hadn’t? We would still be moving on from here. It’s not going to be easy, but I really don’t like the alternative.” She glanced at the blonde girl, a contemplative expression on her face. 

Erica looked back at her, looking bewildered. “I don’t have a problem with keeping going.” She told Lydia in confusion. “I meant more along the lines of, is there anything faster than horses?”

“I was talking to Isaac.” Lydia smiled impatiently. “Erica, when’s the last time you slept? Or did you just wake up?” 

Erica hesitated, a little furrow between her brows. “I haven’t slept yet, no.” She admitted, frowning.

Stiles realized that if he didn’t intervene, steam might start coming out of Lydia’s ears. “Okay!” He blurted. “Erica, Lydia, go get some rest. I’ll pack up what I can. Isaac, you’re on guard duty.” He turned toward Jackson and Boyd. “You guys can pack up for everyone else, right?” 

“I can pack my own things.” Lydia interjected. 

“Not right now, you can’t.” Stiles shook his head. “You want me to come with you, you’re going to have to deal with me doing things my way. If that’s unacceptable to you, then you can go on without me, like I said in the first place.” 

Jackson watched the other man silently, his eyes darting over to watch his girlfriend a moment later, gauging her reaction. 

Erica fidgeted a little, twisting her fingers together. “I’ll go get some sleep.” She agreed quietly, keeping her gaze on the ground as she walked out of the room. 

Isaac exhaled softly. “I’ll go guard the doors.”

“I’ll come with you.” Boyd followed Isaac out of the room. 

“You really shouldn’t cross me again.” Lydia told Stiles. She turned toward Jackson. “I’m going to sleep, but only because that was my plan to begin with.” 

Jackson nodded and gave her a soft kiss. “Okay. Sleep well, sweetheart.” He murmured. 

Lydia glared at Stiles as she left the room. 

Jackson gazed after her, and then looked at Stiles. “I feel like I just turned on the Discovery Channel and watched an alpha challenge another alpha.” He muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose. 

Stiles laughed softly. “Do you want a beer or something? Wine cooler? I don’t know what the cool drink is, anymore. I got a little bit of everything, though. Just because it was there. I figured I could maybe convince someone to help me out with something I needed done, if I offered them a drink as payment.” 

Jackson snorted out a laugh. “Well, you could probably still do that, wherever the hell we end up when we get moving. But nah, no alcohol for me. I’m good.”

“Okay.” Stiles sat down, resting his hands on his stomach as he looked around the room. “I have a feeling that I’ll last maybe three weeks, at the absolute longest, before your girlfriend tells me to fuck off.” 

“I can’t say if she will or won’t.” Jackson sighed. “I really think you two just need to find common ground. Get to know each other a little bit. Right now, everything is freaking volatile. I’m not blaming anyone for that, it’s just the way it is. We don’t want to play anyone’s damn games, we’re tired, we just participated in the most fucked up variation of Survivor I’ve ever seen, and we aren’t done. I don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of this, once we get to Seattle, but I’m gonna damn well get to Seattle with as many people as I can trust. I want to keep everyone I can around me, from Lydia to you. I’m telling you right now, though, I’m not losing anyone. I refuse. I know it’s not feasible, but I’m holding onto it anyway.” He folded his arms stubbornly over his chest, looking a bit sulky. 

“I used to feel that way.” Stiles nodded. “But I'm not making anybody any promises.” He stood up. “What I am going to do, though, is go pack up everything I can and figure out how to store it on those death traps you guys insist on using as transportation.” 

Jackson smirked faintly at him. “Motorcycles would be worse.” He told him. “Scooters are actually safer.” He paused. “And I don’t think any of us feel like trying to foot it across the country. I’ll take the bike over walking, believe me.”

“Well, I'm not going to enjoy cleaning up after the horses.” Stiles snorted. “But they’ll get us through the snow better than the scooters would. If we end up having to walk, later on, then that’s okay with me, too. If I have to leave here, I’d rather just keep moving.”

* * *

Lydia eyed the horses in the stables, watching them eat ravenously before she frowned and turned toward the group. “I don’t think we can take them right now. I’m pretty sure they weren’t being fed. I don’t know what that means for all of the other animals who have been left behind. If we had the time, we could stop off in every town we come across and open doors and windows, to free them. But that would take up so much time.” She shook her head, then looked at Stiles. “You can do something about this, can’t you? Make a phone call or push a button or something and have this resolved?” 

Stiles stared back at her. “Right, let me just flash the Bat Signal at the moon and wait for results.” He retorted. “I don’t have all of the answers. Yesterday, I was fine staying where I was. You decided that wasn’t good enough for you. Sorry I can’t fix all of your problems for you.” 

Jackson frowned deeply at them both, shaking his head. “So, we’re fucked.” He muttered. 

Isaac looked between Lydia and Stiles in confusion. “Why would he be able to do something?”

“Because he works for the government!” Lydia blurted. Having Stiles’ secret get out would mean death for her, and she wasn’t willing to risk her own life for a few seconds of gloating. She had nearly ignored his warning the day before, and she knew now that it would be a mistake to let her guard down around the older man. 

“It doesn’t really matter anymore, does it?” Boyd asked quietly. He could tell that there was something else going on, but he wasn’t sure what it was, and he didn’t want to ask. 

Erica’s shoulders slumped, and she looked like she was ready to cry. “What are we going to do?” She asked softly.

“Stay here for a few days, maybe.” Stiles suggested. “Make sure they’re healthy enough to take us anywhere. Otherwise, get back on the scooters and keep going until we can’t use them, and then we leave them behind for something else. If we have to walk, it’s going to suck, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing. I don’t know how anyone in a wheelchair is handling this, right now.” 

Jackson winced and glared at the ground. “What makes you think anyone in a wheelchair survived the trials?” He asked quietly.

“Law of averages?” Stiles shrugged. “Maybe they didn’t. I don’t know. We could just vote.” He raised his hand. “Hands up, we stay here and take the horses when they’re ready. Hands down, we keep going and hope for really warm weather up the coast.” 

Lydia folded her arms across her chest. She felt helpless about the situation, but even more so with Stiles taking charge of things and the rest of the group treating him like the new leader, just because he was the oldest. 

Jackson licked his lips, looking toward Lydia. He leaned toward her a little. “What do you think?” He asked quietly. “What should we do?”

“I want to keep going.” Lydia murmured. “I don’t think waiting is going to do us any favors. I don’t like the idea of leaving the animals behind, but maybe if we release them from their stables and let them go free, they have a better chance of finding food for themselves?” 

“They might be too domesticated.” Boyd shook his head. “Waiting another couple of days won’t hurt us.” He raised his hand and nodded to Stiles. “I think we should stick around and see if the horses feel like helping us out, once they’re healthier.” 

“Well, are you a veterinarian?” Lydia frowned. “Because I’m not. Stiles isn’t. I doubt that Isaac is.” 

“I’m definitely not.” Jackson added, shaking his head.

“I… used to know someone who was.” Erica piped up, looking hesitant. Then she sighed and shook her head. “But it doesn’t matter, it’s not like I learned anything from them.” She stared at the horses for a long time, and then glanced at Boyd. “What are the chances that waiting around for the horses to get healthier is just… us wasting time?” She asked him softly.

“They haven’t eaten in at least a week.” Boyd admitted. “Not unless their owners set out a few days’ worth of food for them. Waiting might not make a difference. But those two days we spend here, we could get a few hundred miles away. The thing is, that’s just going to get us further north and into conditions that might mean having to walk. So I guess, either way, we’re screwed right now.” 

“If we were in Alaska, we’d be able to use dog-sleds.” Isaac commented, slumping a little miserably against the wall. “They’ve actually won races and stuff.”

Erica’s eyes softened, and she patted him on the shoulder. “Come on, Isaac.” She murmured. “Straighten up. Deep breath. There’s no use getting upset. Which is ironic coming from me, I realize this.” She smiled crookedly, and then looked around at the others, pausing on Lydia and Stiles. Taking her own advice, she drew a deep breath and said, “If there’s another way to travel, once we reach the north - some way that would make it easier for us in the kind of weather that there’ll be up there - then we should take it. For now, I think… I think we should keep going.”

“So it’s tied, two and two.” Lydia gestured to Jackson and Isaac. “Unless you guys make it a three-to-three tie, we’ll stick with the majority vote. Obviously.”

Jackson shook his head, folding his arms over his chest. “I’m with you.” He told her. “Wherever you go, I’m with you.” He paused. “I’m not saying that to be romantic, it’s just a statement of fact. You haven’t failed me once, not since we met. I trust you, and where you go, I’ll follow.”

Lydia smiled proudly. “Thank you.” She reached for his hand as she looked at Isaac. “You’re the last vote, then.” 

Isaac shifted nervously, looking at the others for a long moment. His gaze moved toward the horses and, worrying at his lower lip, he exhaled slowly, and then bluntly said, “I don’t know how to ride a horse. And I don’t think two days is enough time for me to get used to it.” He shook his head. “That being said, I don’t know if going north right away is the right choice, when we don’t know what we’ll run into up there.” He looked at the others again, and then his gaze dropped. 

“We don’t know what we’ll run into if we stay here, either.” Lydia protested. “And nobody is asking you to ride a horse. We’re getting a cart or a wagon or something.” 

Stiles tucked his hands into his pockets and looked up at the sky, lost in thought. “Television channels still work. Do radio stations?” 

“Not that I’ve heard.” Lydia shook her head. “But I didn’t make it a priority. Why?” 

“We could split up, scout ahead. Report back.” Stiles pointed out. “We might even be able to send fax messages to each other, since I'm pretty sure those have a greater range than anything else. Landlines are still up, so they might still be functional, too.” 

Erica folded her arms around herself, biting her lower lip. “So… how far ahead do we scout?” She asked uncertainly. “Because I’ll be honest, I don’t want to be split up from you guys for too long.”

“You would stay here.” Lydia said quickly. “I’ll take Jackson and Isaac with me. A hundred miles should only take two or three hours. If we run into snow, we’ll just turn around and come back. If it’s clear, we’ll find a way to get word to you.” 

Erica nodded slowly. “Okay.” She murmured. “I guess that’ll work.”

“So I guess we should check this house for a landline.” Lydia continued. “Or a fax machine.” She rolled her eyes at Stiles. 

“Mock me all you want.” Stiles smirked. “But the apocalypse literally happened and cell phones don’t seem to be a viable option. Older tech rules right now.” 

“Oh my god.” Jackson muttered, rubbing his eyes. “Okay. Maybe whoever was here is a fucking packrat or something, and never got rid of their landline phone, they just unplugged it.” He looked at Stiles. “Is there an attic here? Or a basement with way too much shit to ever be used, ever again?”

Stiles pointed toward the house. “I never needed to check for either of those, but you can. I have one other idea. I might go check on that while you’re traveling ahead.” 

“What kind of idea?” Isaac asked, furrowing his brows at Stiles and looking curious.

“I’ll tell you if it works out.” Stiles said evasively. 

“We’re in a group, we need to communicate with one another.” Lydia protested. 

“Yeah, and if my idea was going to potentially get someone killed, I’d mention that.” Stiles shrugged. “But I’m not saying anything right now because it might not work out, and if it doesn’t, at least nobody got their hopes up.” 

“Right.” Jackson murmured, studying Stiles with a small frown. “Okay. I guess I’m gonna go check out the attic and basement situation.” He snorted.

“I’ll come with you.” Lydia walked toward the house. It was already much colder in Virginia than it had been in Florida, and she was going to look for warmer coats for everyone while she was looking for a working landline. “He’s causing problems. This was a mistake.” 

Jackson rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Not necessarily. He worked for the government, so… he does have access to some things that we wouldn’t. And he would think about certain things that might not occur to us.” He frowned. “But I can see that he’s rankling you.” He glanced down at his girlfriend. “He might not be a guy that gives up authority easily. There’s gotta be a way to work with him.”

“By giving up control and letting him lead?” Lydia muttered. “Just because he’s older?” 

Jackson looked at her and frowned. “I didn’t say that. Those words never came out of my mouth.”

“I wasn’t saying that you did.” Lydia grimaced and stopped walking, turning to face Jackson. “Listen. I don’t want to give up my autonomy to a complete stranger. I wanted him to come with us, but that was because he has skills that we don’t. It was a strategic plan. Maybe it makes me callous to not care about him as a person, but I don’t. I care about Erica, Boyd, and Isaac. And you. I don’t want to lose any of you. If it means traveling with someone I don’t trust, who I know will at least keep all of you safe because he feels honor-bound to do that, that’s a risk I’m taking. If he left, I’d be more worried about someone else trying to attack us, but at least I wouldn’t have to deal with someone questioning me every two seconds over the most trivial things.” 

Jackson turned a little, cupping her face firmly. “I’ve flat out told you that I’m not willing to risk you for anything.” He said softly. “Maybe I want to believe in the good in people, maybe part of me thinks that not everyone in the government was a piece of shit. I want to trust him. But it’s not because he was a spook or whatever. I need to trust him because if I can’t protect you, I want to know that someone ten times as dangerous as me has your back. I want to know that someone will make keeping you safe a priority, you and Erica, and Boyd and Isaac. That’s why I think we need to work with him, Lyds. We gotta meet halfway, because I don’t ever want to be in a situation where we’re on the other side of his crosshairs.” He studied her, then dragged her closer to kiss her. “You don’t have to care about him. But we do have to work with him.”

“I don’t mind working _with_ him.” Lydia sighed. “Doing what he says isn’t the same thing.” 

“That’s why we’ve gotta come to a compromise.” Jackson murmured, dropping his forehead gently against hers. “We gotta figure something out.”

“He told me...” Lydia frowned. “He said that he was never in one of the circles, like the rest of us. He said he was telling me so that I would know who I was asking to travel with us, but he said that if I told anyone, he’d kill all of us. I haven’t said anything for that reason, but I really don’t like keeping things from you.” 

Jackson went slightly pale, swallowing hard. “I really hope that he won’t be able to tell that you told me.” He said softly. “I’m going to do my damnedest to pretend that I don’t know.” He shook his head.

“I didn’t want to keep this to myself.” Lydia murmured. “If you’re angry with me for having told you, you might as well get over that. It’s not going to reverse time and prevent me from having said it.” She picked up a rock from the driveway and used it to break a window open. Once she was sure that the glass was cleared from the frame, she climbed in. 

“I’m not angry with you.” Jackson sighed after he’d crawled in after her. “I just… don’t know what to do.” He looked over at her. “I’m glad you trusted me enough to tell me, though.”

“I feel like everything is out of control.” Lydia moved toward Jackson, but she felt hesitant about putting her arms around him, like she didn’t have the right to. “I guess I’m jealous of him.” She said quietly. “It makes me sick to think about how I had to watch people die, and he didn’t. Somehow, he has that advantage over everyone else. Not only that, but the device in his hand has all of the checkpoints already activated. He could leave us at any second and go to Seattle, and we’re the only ones who would know. If he’s smart, he won’t do it that way. It would be too obvious that he skipped some places. I think maybe he’s stuck with us, to make his entrance into Seattle more believable.” 

Jackson rubbed his chin. “He may have decided that now. I think he genuinely wasn’t planning to come with us. If he’s got that advantage, it’s because the aliens gave it to him. I don’t know why.” He frowned deeply. “But I don’t think it’s a good thing. And I definitely don’t think it’s anything you need to be jealous of.” He watched her for a moment, and then tugged her toward him, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Maybe that’s why he wasn’t planning to leave here. Maybe he knew that he had the unfair advantage. Hell, maybe it’s survivor’s guilt of a different kind.”

Lydia sighed in relief as she leaned against Jackson. “Maybe.” She conceded. “I’m just ready to be somewhere warmer, even though I know that’s not likely. Maybe we can find a house with a fireplace tonight.” 

Jackson nuzzled his nose lightly against her skin, tucking her close to him. “Maybe.” He murmured. “It’s Virginia, they probably have thousands of those kinda houses.”

“Mm.” Lydia shook her head as she closed her eyes. “We should be able to make it to Trenton today, even with our group going in all sorts of different directions.” 

Jackson nodded, pressing his lips to her jaw. “Yeah. We push hard enough, we might even actually get to New York City.” He paused, still nipping and nuzzling at her. “I know it’s not Albany, but I’ve never been. It might be fun, having the city sort of to ourselves.”

Lydia smiled. “Yeah, that would be nice.” She nodded. “We could throw pennies off of the Empire State Building and not risk hurting anyone.” 

Jackson snorted out a laugh. “Stand in the middle of Seventh, Forty-Fifth and Broadway in front of the Times Square Plaza without getting run over.”

“Steal toys from FAO Schwarz.” Lydia added, grinning. “I used to throw a lot of great parties.” She paused, then tilted her head. “Maybe, if we get there in time, we can have a party in New Orleans. Mardi Gras. But I’d settle for having a party in New York City.” 

“I think a party in New York would be pretty good.” Jackson murmured, smiling at her softly. “I wouldn’t mind New Orleans either, to be honest. But I wouldn’t cry if we missed it.”

“You don’t like New Orleans that much, then?” Lydia stepped back, reaching for his hand as she looked around for any signs of a telephone. 

Jackson took her hand and squeezed gently. “Well, I’ve never been there, so… I don’t know if I’d like it or not. I never wanted to go to New Orleans as much as I’ve wanted to go to New York, though.”

Lydia wandered around the room. “There isn’t a phone in here. Maybe upstairs? I thought that after I finished college, I’d travel around Europe. I guess that’s not going to happen, now.” 

Jackson frowned, sighing. “No. Not unless the aliens decide that they wanna give us back all of our damn transportation, and I doubt that’ll happen. Unless they decide it has its own entertainment factor by doing it.” He nodded at her and started for the stairs. “We’ll check the basement, too, when we come back down. If we don’t find anything up there, I mean.”

Lydia followed Jackson up the stairs and went into the first bedroom she saw on the left side of the hallway. There was a phone on a table, and she practically lunged at it, lifting the handset to see if there was a dial tone. “Jackson!” She called out to her boyfriend. “I found one.” 

“Thank god.” Jackson muttered, laughing as he entered the room. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her forehead. 

Lydia smiled as she wrote down the phone number printed on the phone, then folded the piece of paper and tucked it into her pocket. “What do you think is going to happen to all of the societal conventions, when we’re in Seattle? School dances, voting, red lights...” 

Jackson rubbed his chin, grimacing a little - he’d need to shave soon, he was getting patchy - and tilting his head as he thought. “I think… some things, they’ll have to keep, obviously. Other things will probably get tossed by the wayside.” He scowled faintly. “The aliens certainly liked the idea of voting, I mean, so that’ll stay. Probably. Red lights, unless they want to give us back our cars and shit, probably won’t matter much. School dances, out the window. Unless there’s entertainment value.” He exhaled slowly. “Some of those things, I really doubt anyone is going to want to get back to. I bet half of what we expect is going to end up obsolete or something.”

“Do you ever think about just not going to Seattle?” Lydia asked quietly. “I’ve considered it.” 

Jackson fell silent, looking at the floor with a frown. “I’ve thought about it. About not playing the game, and just… sitting back and relaxing for a little while somewhere. With you.” He looked at her then. “Seattle is close to home, though. And… maybe this is kind of childish of me, but I just keep… thinking that I want to go home. After all of this, after everything we’ve been through… fuck, I just want to go home.”

Lydia nodded. “So do I. I’d just go there now, except that we can’t. We have to keep going from one state to the next. It’s exhausting. Maybe we should slow down.” 

Jackson gazed at her for a moment. “Realistically, how much downtime can we spend between each state while still making it to Seattle before the end of the year?” He asked her, turning to face her while reaching for her hands. “Can we afford to slow down?”

Lydia smiled. “We can. We’ll have at least a week everywhere else, and whatever time is left over, we can just stay in California for a while. I’ll show you where I grew up.” 

Jackson smiled softly at her. “I’d like that.” He murmured, then reached out and pulled her into a hug.

Lydia put her arms around Jackson. “You know, it’s sort of nice that we can do all of this stuff and not have to pay for any of it.” She murmured. “When we get to Minnesota, Erica and I are going shopping.” 

“I’d love to come along, but, uh… I’m guessing this is going to be a girl thing?” Jackson smiled down at her. “If this were before, I’d have easily been able to afford everything we’ve grabbed. But… you’re right. It’s nice. And easier this way.”

“You could come with us, anyway.” Lydia offered. “But I think you would get bored. We’re probably going to try on everything. That’s not an exaggeration.” 

“Well, depending on where you two are planning to go, I could probably get lost in the menswear.” Jackson drawled, smiling crookedly. “I like trying on clothes. I don’t mind coming along if you and Erica don’t mind.”

“It’s months away.” Lydia laughed. “But I don’t see her having a problem with it.” She put her hands on his shoulders and stood up on her toes to kiss him. “We should go tell them that we found a phone.” 

“Yeah, we should.” Jackson agreed, his lips twitching a little. “Alright. Come on, then.” He kissed her again softly, then tugged on her hand before wrapping his arm around her.

When they got back to the stables, Lydia didn’t see any sign of Stiles, Erica or Boyd. She gave Isaac a questioning look. “They left already?” 

Isaac nodded. “Not that long ago. Whatever it was that Stiles wanted to check out seemed like it was a go, so they wanted to go take care of it sooner rather than later.”

“That’s fine, it’s just that if they’re going to be gone a while, nobody is going to be here to answer the phone when I call to report back on a viable radio station.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “Unless one of you wants to stay here.” She gave Isaac a hopeful look, then sighed. “Except that leaves you on your own. Never mind.” 

Isaac ducked his head, looking apologetic. “I’m sorry.” He said quietly, fidgeting. “I don’t think they’ll be gone long? They didn’t really say.”

“Oh, fine.” Lydia muttered. “Let’s just go. Maybe by the time we get where we’re going, they’ll be back here.” She knew she sounded irritated, and she was - but she was also worried that something would happen to the others and she wouldn’t see them again. 

Isaac flinched, but nodded. “I’ll get my things.” He mumbled, scrambling to get out of the stable.

Jackson stared after Isaac with a frown, and then looked back at Lydia. “I think he thinks you’re pissed at him.” He pursed his lips, thinking. “That’s… not a normal reaction for him to have toward someone, is it? He’s just the messenger, he should know that you’re more annoyed with the others.”

“He said his father was abusive. I think they were in a circle together.” Lydia couldn’t quite remember the details Isaac had told her. “I’m trying to be careful around him. It’s not his fault that he’s terrified.” 

“I feel… insanely protective of him.” Jackson muttered, his frown deepening. “I don’t know why. I’d never even met him before we set foot in Atlanta.”

“Maybe it’s just that he looked like a scared puppy?” Lydia said quietly. “I hope he learns to relax around us, soon. Maybe staying in one place for a while will help.” She leaned against Jackson. “Erica’s attached to Stiles. Maybe Isaac needs someone like that, for himself.” 

Jackson turned and pressed his face against the side of her head, breathing in deeply and sighing. “Maybe. But obviously, anyone that gets near that kid is going to be vetted. Viciously.”

Lydia nodded. “All of the rest of you have been lucky, so far.” She teased. “I’m going back to my old ways. At least, some of them.” 

Jackson grinned. “It might be better for bringing newbies into the group and alienating the other shitheads.” He nodded accordingly, and his smile suddenly became just a bit more evil. “I’ll help.”

“I feel like we would have been dating before, if we had met.” Lydia laughed. “But oh well, at least we are now.” 

Jackson smiled. “We are.” He murmured, nodding. “And I think you’re right. We would have been then, too. But we’re making up for lost time now.”

Isaac came back into the stables with his bag, hesitating at the entrance and looking at the other two warily. “Um. I’m ready to go. I think.”

Lydia frowned at Isaac. “What’s wrong?” She walked toward him, peering past him to see if there was a new threat outside. It felt like there was always someone or something going wrong, and relaxing was impossible. “We figured out that we can start staying places for a longer duration of time.” She blurted, looking at Isaac again. “A week, at least.” 

Isaac blinked wide eyes at her, and then his shoulders relaxed. “That’s good.” He smiled carefully at her. “That gives us a little time to cool down and makes more plans before we have to leave again.”

Jackson’s lips quirked up at the corners, and he nodded encouragingly at Isaac. “It does. It’ll be good for us all.”


	7. Fredericksburg

Lydia was reading over a manual to learn how to operate the control board for the radio station when she heard a rumbling sound. She set the booklet down and went over to the window to look outside, stumbling back at the sight of two cars parked in front of the building. “We’ve got company.” She called out, not daring to take her eyes away from the sight two stories below. She leaned her forehead against the window, closing her eyes and sighing in relief when she saw Stiles, Erica and Boyd getting out of the cars. 

Stiles leaned back in and honked the horn, waving up at Lydia. He turned toward Erica and Boyd. “I’ll watch the cars while you guys go in and see what they’ve figured out.” 

Erica saluted him with a grin, twining her fingers through Boyd’s and dragging him along after her. She barreled into the building and laughed in delight when she spotted Isaac hovering in a doorway. Letting go of Boyd’s hand, she ran right to Isaac and hugged him tightly. “Is everything alright? Are you okay? Did you guys have any problems on your way here?” She asked, rapid-fire.

Isaac shook his head hurriedly, smiling in relief. “No. We made it fine, no problems at all.” He hugged her back.

“How do you have cars?” Lydia demanded.

“They’re electric. Like the scooters.” Boyd grinned. “So we can get about four hundred miles before we need to recharge.”

“This is the idea that Stiles had before you left?” Jackson asked, looking annoyed and begrudgingly impressed. It bothered him that he hadn’t thought of it first, honestly.

“Yeah. He didn’t want to say anything because he thought somebody else might have gotten there first, and taken everything.” Boyd explained. “No need to make us all hopeful for nothing.” 

“Fair point. And it’s a better idea than the damn horses.” Jackson sighed. “Okay. So… how are we splitting up, then?”

“Well, Erica and I are going in one car.” Boyd said easily. “I figure Isaac’s with us?” He looked at the teenager for confirmation as he continued. “And then you and Lydia and Stiles can drive the other car.” 

“No.” Lydia protested. “We’ll just trade off as needed. Erica can’t drive, so the five of us will just have to take turns with the two cars.” She smiled apologetically at Erica. “I’m still working on a cure for you.” 

Erica shook her head, smiling. “It’s okay. Thank you. I’m willing to wait for a miracle.”

“Well, would you settle for me getting this station back into broadcast mode?” Lydia gestured to the control panel behind her. “We can record messages and set them to play every so often, so that if anyone bothers listening, they’ll hear us. I was also thinking that CB radios might still be operational.” 

“Absolutely.” Erica nodded. “Wonder if it’s even occurred to anyone else about the radio stations.” She moved to Lydia’s side, staring at the control panel with a slightly overwhelmed expression. “How do I help? Aside from recording messages, I mean?”

“I’m not sure.” Lydia admitted. She instantly regretted it, feeling her shoulders tense up as she glanced at Erica. Lack of knowledge was weakness, and she hated anyone thinking she was weak. “I was reading the manual when I heard the cars. Obviously, there are on-switches and labels for microphones, but I'm not sure how to go about recording something to be used later. It might not be something we do in this room.” She shook her head. “I saw the ‘on-air’ sign above this door and knew this was where I needed to be.” 

Erica didn’t seem to notice any weakness on Lydia’s part - she was staring at the other woman in fascination. “I don’t think I would’ve even thought to find the manual.” She admitted. “I think I would have just… you know.” She gestured at the panel. “Started pressing buttons and flicking switches until stuff lit up and things happened.”

“Well, maybe we should.” Lydia muttered. “This manual has too much technical jargon and even if we set the building on fire, it’s not like we have to stay here and deal with it.” She paused. “That sounded a little too bitter, didn’t it? I’m angry. It’s not... nobody really did anything.” She said carefully, glancing toward Isaac, just in case he thought he had upset her somehow. She had gone from being fearful about Stiles making good on his threat to being furious that he had advantages that nobody else did. 

Isaac moved until he was behind her, and then gently pressed his hand to her shoulder. “It’s okay.” He said quietly. “I think… I think we’ve all got a reason to be angry these days.”

Erica nodded, her eyes gentle. “He’s not wrong.”

Lydia cleared her throat. “I’m going to check desks for cough drops. Somebody must have left some here, somewhere. All of the talking kind of requires it.” She left the room and started rummaging through each desk she came across, but she was thinking about whether or not she should go talk to Stiles and see if he would slip up and confess to one of the things she was sure he was hiding from her. 

“Here.” Jackson murmured, coming up behind her. “Let me help.” He set about searching the cabinets and drawers as well, then made a low noise when he spotted a small, rolled up bag of lozenges in the bottom of the fourth drawer he’d opened. Picking it up, he kicked the drawer shut and made his way to his girlfriend’s side, handing her the bag. “You’ve got something in mind.” He murmured. “Tell me?”

“It’s not fair.” Lydia whispered frantically, unwrapping a lozenge and putting it in her mouth. “Why does he get advantages that we don’t? How can we even be sure that’s the truth? What if he’s playing a game with me and just waiting to see how long I’ll let it go before I say something in front of the others? How can we be sure that he’s not an alien or someone like Matt?” 

Jackson pursed his lips together, thinking. “We can’t be sure.” He said finally. “Not unless his alien partner, or whatever, is around and can vouch for what he says. We can’t take any chances though, Lyds, if he _is_ telling the truth. We can’t alienate him, not when the alternative is that he’d take those advantages and leave us high and dry. I don’t think I trust him, but I’d rather have him on our side right now than against us.”

Lydia sighed, nodding reluctantly. “As soon as we get to Seattle, we don’t have to talk to him anymore if we don’t want to, right? I just want to survive for the rest of the year, if we don’t get to live beyond that.” 

Jackson rubbed his hands over her shoulders. “Right.” He agreed, nodding. “We just have to make it to Seattle.” He paused, looking annoyed, and then sighed and added, “Which will be easier now that we have cars. Damn it.”

Lydia laughed. “It’s not going to be easier.” She shook her head. “We’ll be targeted every time we stop at a capitol building. Everyone we meet is going to ask to come with us, if they don’t outright demand it.” 

“Great. Even better.” Jackson snorted. “Wish there was a way to camoflauge the stupid fucking things.”

Lydia pressed her lips together to hold back a second laugh, since she didn’t want to upset Jackson. She understood how he felt, but there was no way to convince other people that the cars were something else. “Too bad we don’t know any Transformers.” She said finally. “With the way things are going, they probably exist, too.” 

Jackson snorted again. “I’d like to see someone try and hijack one of them from us.” He scoffed.

“I wouldn’t.” Lydia muttered. “I’d like to avoid trouble for the next ten thousand miles I’m traveling, in fact.” She moved to lean against Jackson, resting her forehead on his shoulder. “I know I said we can slow down and spend a week in each state, but I also want to breeze through all of these as fast as possible and get a great house or apartment in the city. I don’t want us to be the last ones to arrive and be stuck with some house that’s falling apart.” 

Jackson laughed, resting his head on top of hers. “There’s no guarantee that anyone heading to Seattle is going to want to stay in Seattle proper.” He pointed out. “Some of them might not show up until the very last minute that they can, and then get the hell out of dodge. If they can.”

“Hmm, true.” Lydia mumbled. “I’m just trying not to become too complacent, now. I can’t exactly hate the system that the aliens have in place when it brought us together, right?” 

“ _We_ brought ourselves together.” Jackson replied, shaking his head. “The aliens just destroyed humanity and society just enough to make it happen a little easier.”

“You’re a pessimist.” Lydia commented, but she wasn’t bothered. “I’m a realist. I just want to get this stupid station up and running, so we can cue up the music and whatever else. It’s not like the FCC can fine us for not running ads.” She shook her head. “Or we could stay here a few days and keep broadcasting live?” 

“Maybe a few days at the most.” Jackson hummed. “I’m not in a rush to get to the next capitol just yet. I kind of want to have some time to breathe and spend with you.”

Lydia smiled. “Are you asking me on an actual date right now?” 

“Depends.” Jackson grinned. “Are you gonna say yes?”

“I might.” Lydia teased. “As long as your plans for our date don’t bore me. I guess sporting events are out. I feel sorry for the people who liked monster truck rallies.” 

“I don’t.” Jackson laughed. “They should have more creativity. Here’s hoping my plans don’t bore you, though.” He wrapped his arm around her.

“I’d tell you that you’re the sort of person who could read the dictionary to me and that would be enough.” Lydia remarked. “But I’m pretty sure I know more words than you already, so that would be a waste of time for both of us. Maybe we can go bowling.” 

“I hate reading.” Jackson commented. “But I do enjoy bowling. This will be pleasant for me, I promise.” He chuckled, then leaned in to kiss her. “So is that a yes?”

“Of course it’s a yes.” Lydia nodded. “I told you days ago that I’m keeping you. I haven’t changed my mind.” 

“Good.” Jackson murmured. “Because I don’t plan to let you go, either.” His lips twitched. “Guess we’re stuck with each other.”

“Well, then you had better start thinking of how you’re going to propose to me.” Lydia said bluntly, smiling back at him. “Because I want a nice wedding. I’m not looking for something major, like the entire population of Seattle attending. But at least having Erica, Boyd and Isaac there would be fine with me.” She deliberately avoided including Stiles, since she expected him to abandon them at some point. 

Jackson laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.” He took both of her hands and brought them up to his lips, kissing her knuckles.

* * *

Lydia took a drink of water as she watched the countdown clock, reminding herself to breathe in and out slowly. The song would be ending soon, and now wasn’t the time for post-traumatic stress disorder, just from watching time decrease. She forced a smile, even though the people hearing her words weren’t going to see her. “Hey, this is the Monarch.” She tightened her grip on the arm of her chair. “We’re broadcasting twenty-four hours a day, for at least the next few days. After that, if you want to hear us, we’ll be at a different radio station. Probably somewhere in Maryland or Delaware. We’re just trying to reach out to anyone who might be passing through. The world got a whole lot smaller about a week ago, and if you’re traveling on your own, you might want to reconsider and find someone else willing to have your back. We only have each other, now. I'm going to play a song that somebody called in and requested a little bit ago. If you want to talk, you can call in and do that.” She gave the phone number for the radio station, then started the next song and sat back in her seat. Lying about someone requesting a song was probably an odd choice, but as long as she kept hoping that someone might hear her and reach out, she didn’t care about being dishonest. 

“Think anyone will actually call?” Erica asked from where she was leaning against the wall, watching. She chewed nervously at her thumbnail, her eyes on Lydia for a few moments before darting to the control panel, then back again. “I mean… how likely would it be for someone to -” The light on the control panel that indicated an incoming call began to glow, and Erica froze, her eyes going wide. “Holy shit.”

Lydia stood up and moved toward the phone, answering it. “Hey, this is the Monarch.” She grimaced, wishing she had come up with something better, but she just didn’t want to go by ‘Lydia’ on the radio. Anything else seemed preferable when she got started, and changing it now would confuse people. 

“I highly doubt that, but it’s a lovely pseudonym.” The voice replied, sounding like the man on the other end was smiling. “Are you as lovely as the name suggests?” Several voices hissed over the other end of the line, another male voice coming over loud and clear and saying to ‘stop fucking flirting!’ “Alright, alright. Monarch, my name is Peter Hale. My daughter, nephew and niece and I survived the trials - obviously - but we’re from a very large family.” He paused, and then exhaled. “We haven’t seen any indication that anyone else has survived.”

Lydia felt like her heart stopped for a few seconds. “Are you from California?” She asked quietly, glancing toward the window. She still had the black baseball cap, but she hadn’t worn it since she picked up a helmet to wear while riding her motorbike. She twisted a lock of hair around one finger, wondering if Eric’s family would hate her. 

Peter paused. “Yes, as a matter of fact.” He replied. “Northern California, to be precise. Are you?”

“Yes.” Lydia kept speaking, feeling like the words were pouring out of her mouth. “Eric was with me. He protected a couple of children, but I know they weren’t Hales. He didn’t know them, but that didn’t matter. It came down to five of us, and the four of them voted each other out, and left me.” The sudden silence made her feel sick to her stomach, even though she was the one who had stopped speaking and caused it. She couldn’t stand the lack of sound, so she pressed on. “I’ve promised so many people that I would find their families. I’ve been writing my name on every capitol building, and all of the names that people told me, before they were gone. I’m so sorry.” 

Peter was silent on his end of the line, and then very clearly had put his hand over the receiver, though his voice was still audible in the background. “She says Eric was with her.”

“Who the hell is Eric?” A feminine voice piped up, sounding irritated.

Lydia listened, not sure what she should say. The question from the unknown woman hadn’t been directed at her, and she didn’t want to hang up on Peter and the other Hales, since she felt responsible to answer for being alive while their relative wasn’t. 

Peter didn’t answer the girl who’d spoken right away. Instead, he exhaled slowly and uncovered the receiver. “Monarch… thank you for letting us know.” He said quietly, suddenly sounding very tired and very sad. “I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. I’m glad you made it out.” 

“Thank you.” Lydia murmured. She knew that the radio’s broadcast range was about forty miles, at best. The Hales couldn’t be too far away from where she was, but she wasn’t so sure that she wanted to meet them. “I’m glad that all of you found one another, at least.” She added. 

There was a pause - a bit too long to be comfortable - and then Peter cleared his throat. “Yes. Thank you. We’re very glad, too.” He paused again, and then asked, “Are you traveling with others, too?”

“I am.” Lydia murmured. “That’s why I’m trying to encourage everyone to find someone else to travel with, instead of going alone. I don’t know what it’s been like for you, having to be on the move constantly. But I was attacked by someone and if I had been on my own, I wouldn’t have survived that.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that that happened to you.” Peter frowned. “That someone isn’t still at large, are they?”

“No, they’re not.” Lydia glanced at Erica. While she hadn’t kept it a secret, it wasn’t something she enjoyed discussing. She glanced at the countdown and quickly cued up another song to follow the one currently playing. “Are you and your family traveling straight through each state, or are you stopping anywhere?” 

“We stop where we can, in order to get supplies.” Peter told her. “But otherwise, we’ve been traveling straight through each state. It’s honestly just been a matter of if we feel like we need to keep moving, or if resting is a priority.” He went quiet for a beat, and then added, “We mostly just want to get through this as quickly as possible.”

“That’s how my group feels, too.” Lydia murmured. “If you keep listening... we’re planning to stop off and keep doing this along the way. A few of the people I’m with actually scouted ahead, so they’re probably already broadcasting, and we’ll all just keep going until we get to Seattle.” She thought about Eric’s hat again, but now it seemed silly for her to offer it to Peter and the other Hales.

“We’ll make sure to tune in.” Peter replied softly. “Maybe at some point, we’ll even meet up.” He smiled. “Thanks for taking my call. And for… other things.”

“I’m glad you called. I hope to hear from you again.” Lydia hung up, then sat back down in her chair as she looked up at Erica. “I’ve been waiting nearly two weeks for that, and I wasn’t as prepared as I had hoped I would be.” 

Erica’s eyes softened, and she clasped a hand gently on Lydia’s shoulder. “At least it finally happened. Now you don’t have to brace yourself for it.”

“I wasn’t even sure I’d talk to any of them.” Lydia sighed. “For all I know, that was a lie or an alien, and Peter Hale isn’t even an actual person. I guess I’ll find out if he calls me again, one day.”

“Or if you happen to run into him one day.” Erica murmured. “Did you actually know any of them? Were they, like, good people?”

“I knew of the Hales, but I never met any of them personally. Or at least, not that I can remember. It’s likely that we crossed paths in a grocery store or at school. Eric was in high school with me, but he was older than me.” Lydia smiled hesitantly. “I guess I had a crush on him. I had this obsession with The Little Mermaid, when I was younger. Eric looked like Eric from that, and even though I told myself I was too old to dwell on Disney movies, I did wonder what it would be like if he paid attention to me. Unfortunately, I got what I wanted, in that he was trying to save me. It just came at the expense of everyone else, by the end of it. I’m not sure he even knew who I was, and I can’t exactly ask.” 

“Yeah.” Erica murmured, drawing her brows together. “It kind of sounds - judging by how they reacted when you said his name, I mean - like you knew him at the end better than anyone did.” She sighed. “Maybe he _didn’t_ know who you were. But he tried to save you. He _did_ save you. Even if his family didn’t know who he was, you do. You can keep his memory alive.” She smiled faintly. “Maybe tell your grandkids about the random guy that you had a crush on that saved your life once upon a time.”

Lydia laughed, then shook her head, her smile fading. “I don’t think I want to have kids. I suppose there’s always adoption, considering how many children might have been left behind.” 

“Yeah.” Erica murmured, her eyes distant as she thought about what Lydia was saying. “Yeah, that’s definitely an option.” She blinked and looked at the other woman. “Is there a private reason you don’t want to have kids?” She asked tentatively, not wanting to step on Lydia’s toes by asking outright. 

“Create more people for the aliens to force into becoming orphans or one day killing each other?” Lydia frowned. “I couldn’t stand the idea of someone I watched grow and gave birth to, being forced into a room where they would likely die. Not that I think it would be fine for someone not biologically-related to me. I just think it would be harder.” 

Erica folded her hands together nervously. “I think it would suck all around.” She admitted. “Either way. But, I don’t know.” She looked down, her eyes softening and her cheeks getting a little red. “Part of me has always wanted kids. You know… dreams I had where I was normal, and didn’t have seizures every other week.” She pressed her lips together. “I’m older now, obviously, and I can think about it a lot more logically. I don’t know if I could bring myself to have kids when I know there’s a chance that my epilepsy could be passed on to them. I don’t want to see them go through what I went through, growing up.” She exhaled slowly. “But there’s still a part of me that just… really wants it.” She scowled, then. “Stupid biological imperative.”

“I don’t think it’s stupid.” Lydia stared at Erica, weighing her options. “I might be able to fix you. I’m not done testing the controller I found, but I think there’s a chance that I can put a permanent stop to your seizures. If I’m wrong, or if I try before we’re sure, it might kill you.”

Erica gulped. “I’m patient. I can wait until you’ve gotten what you need. I’d like to not die, please and thanks.” She quirked a small smile at Lydia. “It’s amazing enough for me that you’re doing this at all.”

“Well, someone has to.” Lydia muttered. “This is a living nightmare. I won’t be in control anymore, once we’re in Seattle.”

“Maybe you should be.” Erica murmured, frowning. “Maybe once we get to Seattle, we should put you in charge, and get everyone else to agree to it, too.” She studied the other girl, and then furrowed her brow, looking hesitant. “Is that something you would want, though?”

“Sure, if the aliens don’t mind.” Lydia scoffed, then smiled grimly. “I think it might take a war to get me there.”

Erica returned the smile tensely. “They killed so many people.” She replied. “They’ve basically turned all of us into refugees. I don’t really care that they had good intentions or whatever. Once they have all of us in one spot, it could go one or two ways - either they murder us all in one fell swoop, or we figure out a way to defeat them and it really does come down to war. Personally,” she looked at Lydia, her eyes hard. “I’m kinda hoping we figure out a way to make that second option a reality.”

“Well, there’s the third option.” Lydia pointed out. “Acquiescence. We assimilate and survive. But I guess we won’t know until we get there. Though I will say that I’m tired of killing people. Putting me in a position of power might put a target on my back, too.” 

Erica grimaced deeply. “Yeah. That’s not - I don’t want that for you. You’re my first friend that’s a girl and I’d rather have you alive and well and here.” She smiled crookedly. “Besides, I think Jackson would lose his mind if anything happened to you.”

“He would.” Lydia agreed easily, smiling back at Erica. “He would just end up arguing with all of you until you got annoyed and left him while he was asleep. He definitely needs me around.” 

“It kind of seems like most guys are like that.” Erica laughed. “Normal and brave and all that good stuff until something happens that they didn’t want to happen, and then they get all annoying and irritating and kinda useless.” She exhaled softly. “I’d like to think that Boyd’s like that about me - they way Jackson is about you, I mean. I hope so, anyway. If anything happens to me, I hope he stays with you guys.” She swallowed hard. “I hope he doesn’t do something to push you all away.”

“If anything happens to you and he starts acting idiotic, I’ll just ask him if he thinks that you would want him to behave that way.” Lydia murmured. 

Erica smiled tremulously at her. “Thanks. Just for the record, I don’t want anything to happen to me, or anyone else. But just in case, I wanna make sure that my guy doesn’t go off the rails, and - I’m glad you’ll be there.”

“No more negative talk.” Lydia shook her head. “We’re going to get to Seattle as a group, and we won’t lose anyone.” 

“Right.” Erica nodded firmly, taking a deep breath. “No negative talk. Seattle is our goal, and everyone will survive.”


	8. Albany, part one

Lydia marked another day off of the calendar. It was close to the end of January and they weren’t done with the East Coast, but she knew that they were reaching a lot of people. She got phone calls from other survivors constantly, and a few of them had asked if it was all right if they followed her lead and started broadcasting things, themselves. The world was slowly returning to normal. In Annapolis, her small family had gone fishing to catch their own dinner, and she had taken a day to plant a long row of trees near a road. Her conversation with Erica had convinced her that she needed to leave the world a better place than it was, though the idea of everyone seeing her as a leader made her throat close up; the pain from watching everyone die around her in the circle was still too fresh. She wasn’t sure it would ever go away. At least one other thing had improved, and that was her mutual animosity with Stiles, though she kept waiting for that to return to normal, too. 

“We need to do stuff like this more often.” Jackson murmured, standing up and stretching his limbs. “The fishing, hunting shit, I mean. And the tree planting you did, even.” He stared off into the distance thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t mind a garden one day. Maybe once we settle down after this shitshow is over, we can go hunting for fruit trees and other stuff.”

Lydia smiled. “What kind of fruit trees? Apple? Oranges are more likely to grow somewhere like Florida or California, but not the part I’m from. Maybe cherry trees.” She closed her day planner and put it back into the backpack she hadn’t managed to rid herself of, even though she thought it was kind of ugly. “I’m thinking about getting another bike and just riding around the city, but I don’t want to go alone. I don’t want to use the cars more than we have to. I feel like we’re drawing so much attention to ourselves. I heard a group of people talking about us when I was looking around the grocery store with Isaac. I’m glad that being on the radio means that people don’t know what I look like. I didn’t want to tip them off that I was one aisle over, so I just tried to communicate with hand gestures. I’m thinking about learning sign language. It’s not like I don’t have time.” 

Jackson looked down at her and smiled faintly. “Well, you know you’ve got me, if that’s what you want to do. I’ll learn with you. Go biking with you. Punch whoever I need to that might take a look at you and think you’re an easy target. Hell, I’m sure Erica would probably love to go biking with you, too. And Isaac follows you around like a heartsick puppy.” He didn’t look annoyed by it. Part of him thought it was rather adorable, the not-quite-literal heart eyes that Isaac tended to sport when he stared at Lydia. Most men would feel threatened by any other guy that made those sort of eyes at a significant other. Jackson was fond enough of Isaac that it just seemed to solidify how amazing he thought Lydia was, when the boy he was beginning to see as a younger brother seemed to adore her, too. 

Lydia laughed as she put her arms around Jackson’s waist. “I think I’ll take Boyd with me. It gives you time to bond with Erica. If she leaves Stiles’ side.”

“If she does,” Jackson agreed, winding his arms around her. “Let Isaac hang out with Stiles for a little bit.” He smiled at her. “Besides, I think Boyd could do with getting out for a little while. I know none of us like being cooped up, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him leave our camp, wherever we happen to be.”

Lydia nodded. “I’m glad we have Stiles with us, now. If it hadn’t been for him, we’d still be on motorbikes and trying to get up these steep mountains. Or worse, we would still have been on bicycles. Or on foot.” She grimaced, just thinking of how much pain that would have left her in, and how Erica wouldn’t have stood a chance of surviving. “Albany is boring me.” She admitted, eager to stop thinking about things that weren’t really a problem. 

“We’ll move on soon enough.” Jackson murmured, burying his face a little against her throat. “I’m not sure why anyone ever thought Albany should house the capitol building, but I guess with the way New York City sprang up, they’d probably have been hard-pressed to find a decent spot for it or something.”

“Well, I doubt it was always like this.” Lydia mused. “Or maybe they didn’t care, because they had horses and oxen to get them where they needed to be, and it didn’t occur to them how difficult it was.” 

Jackson snorted. “Must’ve been nice not to give a shit - or to not know enough to give a shit.” He pulled back and smiled fondly at her. “Either way, we’re getting the hell out of here as soon as we can. I doubt our next stop is much more interesting, but…” he shrugged. “At least Providence is closer to the ocean?”

Lydia smiled. “I don’t think the Atlantic will be the same as the Pacific. But it would be nice to be near the waves.” She eyed the radio control board, wondering if any of the Hales would call her. She hadn’t heard from Peter since she had told him about Eric. It was possible that he hadn’t survived past the call, but she didn’t want to think about that, either. 

Jackson glanced toward it too, his brows furrowing a little. Like he could read her mind, he murmured, “I’m sure they’re fine. They just probably couldn’t get to a good place to call yet.”

“I want to meet them. If they want to meet me.” Lydia blurted. “Our numbers would almost be doubled and that couldn’t hurt anything.” Even as she said it, she doubted it was true. The larger the group, the more likely that there would be dissension. “Erica wants me to be in charge of everything, when we get to Seattle. I just don’t know if I can manage. It would take everyone wanting me to be in charge, too.” 

Jackson leaned back and studied her. “Is it even something you want?” He asked her gently, taking her hand. “It’s okay if you don’t. I’m not asking as a point, I’m asking because - honestly - you looked a little sick to your stomach just mentioning it.”

“You really do know me well.” Lydia laced her fingers with his. “It would be a big risk. There aren’t rules anymore, and maybe the survivors who aren’t us prefer it that way. Trying to restore order would be a mistake. I could be attacked for it. Killed. And a large group would overpower anyone who tried to protect me.” 

“Yeah, I’m not risking you.” Jackson replied firmly. “Someone else can step up and be a leader if they want, but I’m not losing you just because a bunch of lawless morons decide they want to live in a modern apocalyptic Wild West.”

“What does that leave us with, then?” Lydia twisted a lock of hair around her finger, thinking. “We do need a hierarchy of power. It shouldn’t be the aliens.” 

“Agreed.” Jackson rubbed his hand over his chin and sighed. “And it doesn’t leave us with much.” He grimaced. “I guess right now, it remains to be seen.”

“Maybe it just isn’t for us to decide. There are roughly two million people, and we’re just six of them. I like that I’ve given people hope, but I also know that people are being killed every day, even now.” She shuddered, thinking of the corpses she had seen at more than one capitol building. She wanted to believe that the deceased were trying to cause problems, like the ones Stiles had dealt with in Richmond, but she wasn’t naive. She bit her lip, then stepped back from Jackson. “I’ll come find you before I leave, even if you’re not coming with me.” She walked down the hallway, looking around for Stiles. 

Erica’s voice was echoing down the hallway from one of the rooms, her tone curious as she chattered at Stiles. “What’s the best shot you’ve ever made?” She asked him, unsure if she’d even get an answer.

“I had to chase a guy on a busy street.” Stiles answered. “My partner was driving and I was worried that there would be too many casualties. One’s too many anyway, but the guy had already hit two parked cars while he was running from us. So I actually ended up pulling off one of those maneuvers, straight out of a movie. I was halfway out the window and we were doing about eighty. People were swerving, pedestrians were screaming. I took the shot and hit right through the back windshield. I got the guy in his right hand, and he pulled over and surrendered.” He glanced at Lydia as she entered the room, then smiled sheepishly at Erica. “And if you believe that, you’ve seen too many movies. Actually, my best shots are at the range, when it doesn’t really count for anything serious. That doesn’t mean I’m bad. I think my results speak for themselves. It’s just easier when there’s nobody else at risk.” 

“So lying is something you’re comfortable with?” Lydia demanded, folding her arms across her chest as she stared at Stiles. “How can we trust anything you’ve said to us in the past two weeks?” 

“Because you’re not dead.” Stiles said bluntly. “And speaking of survival, we’re going to need more rations before we go further north.” He gestured to the street map spread out on the table in front of him. It was covered in pen-scrawled stars. “And warmer clothes. I can drive to any of these points for things. Clothes aren’t hard to come by now, so it’s not like we’re stuck with whatever’s on hand. I just don’t want to leave the car unattended. I’m not going to ask Isaac or Erica to stand guard. Jackson listens to you. Convince him to come with me?”

“No.” Lydia shook her head. “I’m taking Boyd with me, on bikes, to look for people or other signs of survivors. If you and Jackson leave, Erica and Isaac are here alone and vulnerable.”

“I’ll bring Erica, you bring Isaac?” Stiles suggested, glancing over at the blonde again and snorting a little before he turned back to Lydia. “Why does this feel like we’re having a custody battle right now?”

“Because you’re a lonely old man?” Lydia shook her head, refusing to give in to Stiles’ weird attempt at flirting with her. “You’re deflecting. I want an answer to my question. How do we know we can trust you?” 

“I guess you don’t.” Stiles started folding up the map he had in front of him. “If you don’t want my help anymore, then stop asking for it, Lydia.” He smirked as he stood up straight. “I know that’s what you came here to do. You don’t talk to me unless you need something.” 

Lydia felt embarrassed, but she refused to look away, feeling like it would somehow leave her vulnerable. “You have a contact with the alien race.” She knew there was no point in denying Stiles’ point, since it was true. “You have access to things that we don’t. I might not want anything to do with you if this was December of last year, but things have changed and we need your help. I want to know what the world population is right now. I want to know what the plan is for the humans in this country, once we reach Seattle. We’re playing their game because it’s better than going out and slaughtering our own race for no reason, but their game started off with us doing exactly that. You’re here because you’re an asset.” 

“I’m an asset.” Stiles repeated, his lips twitching as he looked at Erica again. 

Erica’s lips twitched as well. “Well, you’ve got the ‘ass’ part right,” She teased, blatantly lowering her eyes to his butt. “In more ways than one.”

Lydia frowned at Erica. “I’m sure Boyd would disagree.” She murmured. 

“She’s allowed to look.” Stiles protested, laughing. 

“Look but don’t touch, right?” Erica looked at Lydia with a small smile. “It’s not something I’d act on, believe me. I love Boyd, that’s not something that’s changed. But for an older guy, Stiles is attractive.” She fell silent for a moment, and then shrugged. “And the type of people that used to stomp on me whenever I might have expressed something like that… well, they aren’t around anymore to tell me to stop, you know?” She let out a small, sheepish laugh, looking down. 

Stiles rested his hands on Erica’s shoulders. “So don’t worry about them. Come with me and get all the clothes you can carry, and we’ll go steal expensive wine from the kind of restaurant that wouldn’t even let us through the door.”

Erica let out a louder laugh, thoroughly amused. “Sounds good.” She murmured, and then paused to look at Lydia. “I mean, unless you need me to come with you?” She asked tentatively.

“No, not this time.” Lydia assured her friend. “I want to communicate with the aliens.” She told Stiles again.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Stiles gave her an amused grin.

Lydia left the room, wondering why every conversation with Stiles left her feeling like she had been dissected. No matter what she said or did, it was like he could see through her and thought it was hilarious that she was trying to be in charge of their group. 

Isaac was walking toward her, smiling widely at her as he approached. “Jackson said that we’re going somewhere?” He asked her carefully. 

Lydia nodded, smiling back at him. “You, Boyd and I are going to ride bikes around the city. If we find something worth bringing back, that would be great. If we don’t, that’s okay, too. I just want a chance to explore a city because we can, not because we need to.” 

Isaac bobbed his head, looking excited. “Okay. What do we do if we find something really, really good? Is there a way to get ahold of the others?”

“I think we’ll just have to come back and tell them about it. I don’t think we’ll have anything that needs to be loaded into a car, anyway. We’re looking to keep traveling, not start furnishing a home.” Lydia could picture that clearly, getting up in the morning and making coffee for everyone. She had so many questions about Seattle and the new society they were going to be part of. Jobs would be necessary, like trash removal and gardening, so some form of currency would have to be implemented, too. She gripped the ends of her hair, trying not to be stressed out about everything she didn’t have an answer for. 

Isaac clasped his hands together, twisting them around. “Okay.” He said again, nodding. “I’m gonna go get dressed, then, I’ll be right back.” He beamed. 

Lydia grinned after him and returned to the control room, where she had left Jackson. “You’re going with Stiles and Erica. I’ll see you when we get back.”

Jackson pushed himself off of the control panel and moved toward her for a kiss. “Alright.” He agreed. “Tell Boyd and Isaac they’d better look after you or I’ll kick their asses.” His lips twitched into a crooked smile. 

Lydia put her arms around Jackson. “I think they already know that, by now.” She rested her forehead against his chest. The nightmares about everyone dying around her hadn’t gone away, and she hadn’t really expected them to stop this soon. But she couldn’t imagine her life without Jackson, and the way they met wouldn’t have been possible if the population hadn’t been drastically reduced, or if the aliens hadn’t dropped her off at the same location they had taken him to. She had started feeling grateful to the race that had nearly exterminated her own, and she knew how wrong that was, but staying optimistic was better than giving in to the insanity that consumed her while she slept. 

Jackson buried his face against her hair and inhaled deeply as he hugged her tightly against him. He rocked them back and forth lightly, smiling. “Good. They need to always keep it in mind.” He pulled back a little and looked at her steadily. “I care about you. A lot. I’m not kidding when I tell you that I’ll throw down with anyone that threatens you.”

“Who threatens me.” Lydia corrected automatically, then smiled as she looked up at him. “Anything that, anyone who. I realize that’s not important right now, but maybe it should be. Maybe we should focus on mundane little things and stop worrying so much about survival, every second. I’m surprised my hair hasn’t gone gray in the past three weeks.” 

Jackson shrugged a shoulder, smiling at her. “I think you’d look attractive with gray hair. Or white hair. Whichever.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “But you’re right. Maybe that’s the key - stop focusing so much on trying to survive, and we’ll survive longer.” He toyed with her fingers, staring down at her small hands in his. “I’ve never been very good with grammar. Maybe you can teach me.”

“It’s only fair, since you’ve taught me how to use a gun.” Lydia murmured. “I don’t care how we spend any of our days, from here on out. As long as we’re together. I haven’t ever felt like this about anyone.” 

Jackson kissed her softly. “When you get back, we’re going to go into our room and spend a while there. Just the two of us. Deal?”

“Of course.” Lydia nodded. “I guess I’ll have to pedal as fast as I can, to get back to you. You’ll have it easier, with that car.” She kissed Jackson once more, then stepped back with a sigh. “If I don’t get going now, I won’t go.” 

Jackson couldn’t resist dragging her back toward him, a smile playing on his lips. “I mean, you could just not go right now.” He teased her. “Postpone it. For an hour. Maybe two.” He pressed kisses playfully against her lips. 

“I could.” Lydia agreed. “But then we’d have four people very angry at us.” She kissed him one last time, then laughed. “I think two hours will be enough time apart.” 

“It’s too _much_ time apart,” Jackson laughed. “Alright, alright. I’ll let you go. But I won’t be happy about it.” He dropped a kiss against her knuckles, then gently tugged at a lock of her hair. “I’ll see you soon.”

“You had better bring me some cute sweaters.” Lydia teased. “Nothing pink.” She grabbed her backpack, checking it for a bottle of water before she put the black baseball cap on. It felt like a ritual now. She never would have worn it, but it was a daily reminder of her own survival and the Hales she had yet to meet. “I’ll find some good wine or champagne. We’ll celebrate tonight.”


End file.
